Don Kinney Email and Phone Number

I lead Executive Search for our Product Management, Product Design, and Science Groups, who are reimagining the way the world moves for the better. From how you get home from work, to how you eat meals, or how you move huge shipments of anything, the work we do is shaping the future of mobility and changing the way people live. To get there, our product group is tackling some of the most challenging problems of our time. If you're intrigued by this mission, we should talk.

As a senior full-cycle recruiter, I partner closely with Sr. Leadership (Directors & VPs) to approach, attract, vet, and hire senior leaders, who in turn, build out new teams and capabilities across a wide variety of disciplines – both technical and non-technical. My rather eclectic portfolio of leadership searches ranges from the most highly technical client-facing Solutions Architecture roles, to more “inside the business” roles, focusing on Product, GTM strategy, Marketing, Sales Enablement, and Operations. I approach these highly sought-after talents (mostly passive job-seekers), offering a “white glove” candidate experience and subsequently act as their talent ambassador, throughout their candidate journey with AWS.

A hands-on, “full-desk” Talent Acquisition leader, tasked with building the TA function from the ground up. This involved partnering with Executive Leadership and Human Resources to build an aggressive workforce plan, strictly tied to the overall vehicle production cycle. Prior to my arrival, the company’s only recruiting resources were external agencies.

Played both people leadership and Full Lifecycle roles, delivering against aggressive hiring targets for top engineering, product, and design talent in a hyper-competitive landscape. Partnered with hiring managers, business leaders, and HR business partners to set and drive strategy, goals, process, and metrics while managing a full recruiting desk and a client-aligned recruiting team in concert.

DILUSSO derives its name from the Italian phrase di lusso, which translates directly to "of luxury" or luxurious. We provide hand delivered, solid mahogany surprise boxes for men, filled with high-end luxury essentials and experiences. All boxes are curated by a selected influencer or personality from various industries such as social media, lifestyle, entertainment, business and sport. Whether it's a reward for yourself to celebrate one of life's milestones, a client gift, or a corporate incentive, DILUSSO Surprise Box is perfect for most any occasion.

BUSINESS CONSULTING - PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - INVESTMENT

Selected by the Global CIO of UL, LLC to build a new Technology Center in Laramie, WY from the ground up. Phase one of my engagement spanned from initial relationship building with the Governor's Office of the State of WY, to securing funding, to writing state & local workforce development grants, to actual physical site selection and build out. I figuratively “parachuted into” a relatively unknown business community, and built all of these relationships from the ground up. This was a monumental WIN for the State of WY, as well as a very innovative move for UL, and I was the Quarterback of the entire initiative. Phase two of my engagement was to proactively recruit and build a world-class team of development and support analysts within this brand new business. Working together with the University of Wyoming, as well as the local business community, I built a team that became a key contributor in driving the implementation and maintenance of some of UL's most critical enterprise-wide business systems. Phase three of my engagement was to recruit and mentor the permanent Technology Center Manager, as well as creating and nurturing a high performance “tech start-up” culture, which thrives on continuous innovation--all with the support and leadership of one of the world’s most recognizable and innovative brands, UL.

A re-brand of Nivio, SOLV was a cloud computing start-up, based in Silicon Valley (with offices in Chicago, London UK, and Melbourne AU). SOLV provided an all-in-one IT platform featuring virtual desktop solutions, software provisioning, networked storage all from the Amazon Cloud. As a senior member of the executive team, and reporting directly to the Founder & CEO, directed all operations and talent acquisition for the organization. During tenure, SOLV significantly transformed from a small team of 2 Co-founders and a handful of engineers to a thriving tech startup, with a superstar executive team and an engineering team that completely reengineered the beta product, growing employee base by 250%, and subsequently growing customer base by 400%.Under my leadership, we created a culture based on innovation, accountability to one another, and an obsession with creating an amazing customer experience. Constantly challenging each other to grow and stretch our capabilities, while having an awesome time doing it, Representative Accomplishments:• Established all Operational and HR policies from scratch, including a talent acquisition, on-boarding, employee handbook, employee relations, and all financial T&E / payroll processes. • Directly responsible for strategic sourcing, university relations, employment branding, and succession planning.• Selection and implementation of enterprise wide applicant tracking system.• Implementation of Social Media recruiting strategy and redesign of SOLV’s employment website• Design and management of relocation programs.• Notable direct placements: CTO, CMO, Chief Architect, Director of Sales, 2 Board Directors, 3 Sales Reps, Sales Engineer, 2 Sr. Dev Ops Engineers, 3 Rails Engineers, and a Sr. Cloud Infrastructure SME. • Paid ZERO recruiting fees (Saving investors over $500k).Reason for leaving: Organization was unable to secure long-term funding.

nivio was a global cloud desktop start-up headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in the UK, India, and Australia. nivio provided always-on access to desktop applications and data within the familiar Windows environment from anywhere in the world, on any connected device.A consulting assignment to build and grow the talent acquisition function for this very exciting cloud computing player. The company's growth, having secured significant investment, was skyrocketing, and I led the charge, building out both the Chicago and Silicon Valley offices. Reporting directly to the CEO, I advised Sr. Level management on hiring best practices as well as creating talent acquisition plans to take the company into its next stages of explosive growth. Led the charge in this often frenetically paced environment, and targeted candidates who matched this unique cultural DNA.Representative Accomplishments:• Directly responsible for strategic sourcing, university relations, employment branding, and succession planning.• Worked with global department heads to determine and adhere to headcount budgets.• Redesigned entire nivio recruiting lifecycle to incorporate core values• Design and management of relocation programs.• Developed hiring metrics featuring cost savings, time to fill, cost per hire – used to present at board meetings• Notable direct placements: Director, Application Development, Director, Cloud Infrastructure, VP of Sales, Several Cloud Engineers, CMO.Reason for leaving: One year management consulting contract was fulfilled, and I was in-turn recruited by the new CEO to help him launch a re-brand of nivio, called SOLV. An opportunity I couldn't refuse, considering the promising nature of the Cloud Computing space.

Kinney Search Group is a boutique search firm founded to bridge the widening gap between traditional staffing and retained executive search firms by providing personalized, innovative, and results-driven recruiting services for your organization. Provided executive search and management consulting to companies ranging from new ventures to Fortune 500 industry leaders. Managed client teams in developing and implementing quick-win and longer-term strategic opportunities. Personally achieved 100%+ of my revenue goals in each of my years at the helm of the firm. Representative Accomplishments:• Built a dedicated team of top "headhunters" under the belief that ALL of our clients are marquee clients and EVERY search assignment is the most important in our portfolio. • Provided “cultural DNA fits” who not only satisfy our clients' skills requirements, but most importantly, truly fit their team culture and organizational aspirations.• Created 100% transparency to ensure requirements and expectations are properly calibrated, and most importantly, the project is completed on-time---Comprehensive SLAs with each client and weekly client reporting checkpoints.• Cultivated and grew a professional network of over 100,000 professionals, who know and trust the Kinney name.• International reach enabled KSG to fill searches in:Amsterdam • Atlanta • Boston • Chicago • Dallas • Los Angeles • Miami • New York • Palo Alto • Paris • San Francisco • Seattle • Toronto • Vancouver.

Drawing on a global infrastructure of data centers and networks, T-Systems operates information and communication technology (ICT) systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions. T-Systems provides integrated solutions for the networked future of business and society. The company's some 52,700 employees combine industry expertise and ICT innovations to add significant value to customers’ core business all over the world.A consulting role to restructure, rebuild, and lead the entire talent acquisition function across all business units, including IT, Business Development, Finance & Accounting, Product Development, Product Marketing, and Global Services Consulting. Reporting directly to the Global EVP of HR, I consulted business unit leaders to come up with a new service model. effectively transformed our talent acquisition function into a Global Shared Services model. Every recruiter was directly accountable to our business clients, through the effective use of a time and billing "Consulting" model, complete with SLAs to commence every recruiting assignment, and mutual feedback loops post-project completion. This washed away what was once a very contentious relationship between the recruiting/HR organization and its business clients, building true partnerships, based on performance and trust. Representative Accomplishments: • Agency usage, and overall cost-per-hire plummeted, while our organization grew 300%+ globally. • Renegotiated all vendor contracts for a total cost savings of over $400k• Implemented Big 5 Business Process Re-engineering methods to turn recruiting organization into an internal consulting entity.• Grew recruiting team effectively, hiring top-notch specialists to serve our internal customers.• Led global ATS selection process, through implementation.Reason for leaving: Personally recruited and hired my successor in order to open my own National Executive Search Firm, Kinney Search Group.