HR & Talent Consulting

Samantha Schneider is the founder and Principal of AmpersandPeople, Inc. She is an established People Leader with over 20 years of experience in recruiting and human resources working with a variety of industries. Samantha holds a Bachelors in Organizational Communications from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Tania has18 years of experience in HR operations, including onboarding, project management, and recruiting coordination. She focuses on support and program creation, building customized training & branded communication materials for clients, and ATS management. Tania has a BS in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services from University of Arizona.

Tactical lifecycle recruiting leader with 17 years of success supporting progressive initiatives that directly impact the company’s competitive ability to attract, engage and retain top talent. Skilled client engagement manager capable of bringing forth successful talent solutions. Maintains vast network to maintain recruiting pipeline. Madelyn has a BA from Humboldt State University.

Charmain has focused on employee engagement helping companies scale up & down, supporting M&A, opening new locations, and has participated in high volume hiring. Her work experience covers all business units and she has experience supporting exempt & non-exempt employee populations. A warm smile helps her engage with employees with on and off boarding, leave, immgration, benefits administration, compliance activities and more! In addition, she has supported diversity & outreach programs.

As an engaging, responsive, and hands-on executive, Steve brings a broad & diverse human resources background that spans across all HR areas. Throughout his career, he has achieved top-performing, highly inclusive workforces by aligning people, operations, & processes. He also excels at executing value-added, cost-effective HR initiatives that positively impact employee performance, engagement, & retention. Steve has a BS from Georgetown University and an MBA in Finance/Marketing from USC Marshall school of Business.

Kate DeSanti has a great passion for customer service and 10 years of experience in Recruiting and HR administration in start-up environments. Kate focuses on giving clients support with recruitment operations, workplace & candidate experience. Kate has a BS in Human Resources Management and Services from University of Central Florida.

In her role Nadia focuses on full cycle Recruiting, process and program creation, as well as Talent Branding. Nadia brings extensive experience as a Human Resources Leader, specializing in Talent Management and HR/Talent Operations with an emphasis on creating and implementing programs that lead to a positive candidate and employee experience. Nadia graduated with a BA from Arizona State University.

A highly motivated and driven human resources staffing professional with extensive experience researching, identifying, attracting & closing candidates. Wendy is an ambitious and thorough closer, with excellent communication, relationship building, and recruiting abilities. She is able to project manage, improve processes & deliver qualified talent. Organized, dependable, focused and diligent. Wendy has a BA from San Jose State University.

Janelle Hall is a Sr. Consulting Manager for AmpersandPeople. She brings 10 years of experience in recruiting coordinating, university relations/intern program management, & recruiting.  With her skill set, she focuses on full-cycle recruiting, talent operations & candidate experience with our clients. Customer service is at the forefront of everything she does. Janelle has a BA in Social Science, Cross Cultural Studies from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Jim's long-standing career in Talent Acquisition, running recruiting teams, and supporting searches across industries is a fit for clients looking to hire their 5th or 500th employee. Jim has a Bachelors in Management from Northern Arizona University, The WA Franke College of Business.

Kerry Kelly is a licensed California attorney. She is a highly collaborative working leader who expertly balances critical, pragmatic problem solving, with a sense of urgency in strategic and tactical decision making. Kerry has a great depth of experience in employment law and HR matters, as well as general company operations. She  is able to apply her understanding and skills to provide efficient, cost-effective solutions. Kerry has a JD degree from Santa Clara University School of Law.

Tina has over 36 years of event operations experience.  Her strengths are managing projects through the delivery of objectives & execution of logistics, while effectively working with clients and providing outstanding client/customer service. She’s highly organized, with strong prioritization and project management skills that enable her to deliver on multiple projects, on time and within budget. Tina brings her years of expertise at problem solving, organization and operations to the organization. She is an accomplished copy editor & proofreader and possesses outstanding written and verbal communication skills.

Joy is a microbiologist -turned- graphic designer -turned-project manager -turned- talent associate, eager to learn, create, explore and surround herself with game-changing people. Joy has over 15+ years of leading multiple projects of people teams to meeting company goals and needs. With a diverse background and unique high technical aptitude, she has a track record of success in managing complex projects and diverse people in fast paced forward thinking companies. Passionate about people relationships, Joy ensures support, collaboration, and communication with new and existing clients. Joy has a BS from UCLA in Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. 

Based in Brooklyn, NY Adrianna’s professional background spans across investment banking, media & entertainment, and startups. She holds a BA from North Carolina State University and an MA in Applied Physiology from Columbia University.

Lisa is a total team player and has valuable experience working in Recruiting Operations with tech & life science companies. She creates unique candidate experiences and executes new employee onboarding with a positive and joyful attitude.  Her superb organization skills and attention-to-details goes hand in hand to provide recruiting support for clients and candidates. Lisa holds a BS from the University of San Francisco.

Doug can be found in San Diego, near the ocean! When not out sailing he helps our clients recruit engineering, product, UX, medical and hard to find talent. With years of deep sourcing experience, he enjoys the hunt. Doug has a BA from Indiana University Bloomington.   

With 10+ years of experience within Human Resources, Kyaira is a highly effective associate skilled in supporting others through recruiting and various HR operations. Highly effective in organization, attention to detail, and employee engagement & retention, Kyaira is able to support various clients with diverse backgrounds across multiple industries. Kyaira has a BA from California State University-Northridge.

With 10+ years of full life-cycle recruiting, Katie's experience spans multiple functions including Executive, Technical, G&A, and Video Game development staffing. She has proven success with high volume hiring, req load management and resource planning which makes her a valuable member to any recruiting team. Given her extensive background in the video game and visual effects industry, her passion is to help companies grow their workforce in order to push the boundaries of product development, with new experiences and cutting edge technology.  Katie holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from The University of San Diego.

Maria has an eye for data and detail while working with organizations to define and create HR initiatives that drive employee engagement and organizational performance, leading to effective change management and overall business success. She has experience working with small growing businesses as well as larger organizations spanning across the globe. Maria has a Master’s Degree from San Jose State University and her work has been published in the International Journal of Stress Management.

With dedicated experience and proven talent in both sales and recruiting, Joe is highly proficient in managing teams in both areas over a career that has included Fortune 500 well-known brand names and smaller, more flexible entrepreneurial companies. His extensive industry experiences include healthcare, business services, technology and non-profit organizations. He focuses on finding the right skillset and cultural fit at any employee level taking a total team approach.  Joe has a BA from UCLA.

Katie has over 20 years of experience leading teams to design and deliver exceptional compensation and benefit programs across both public and private organizations. Over these years, she has been able to design creative and relevant performance management systems and tools, deliver complex compensation programs, and drive employee engagement through recognition programs. She has supported and advised public company boards, responding to each unique need and expectation. Katie is a unique compensation professional with the ability to both think and design strategically, but also to roll up her sleeves and do whatever tactical work needs to be done. She has a BA degree from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Drexel University. 

Danica Elliott currently provides Human Capital services for Private Equity and Venture Capital firms across all industries, focusing on pre-investment organizational due diligence, executive-level talent assessments, executive coaching programs, and post-acquisition Human Capital support. Previously, Danica worked with Frazier Healthcare Partners as Director of Human Capital on the Growth Buyout Human Capital team and later led Human Capital for Frazier’s Life Sciences private and public early-stage drug discovery portfolio. Prior to Frazier, Danica worked in management consulting, and she also ran a marketing consulting company for many years that provided strategic solutions for growing businesses at all stages. Danica has an MBA from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, a BFA from SUNY New Paltz, and certifications in executive coaching and several assessment tools.

Erin’s HR career spans over 20 years in various industries, including entertainment and

hospitality, giving her experience in most areas of the profession-and an appreciation for

dynamic, loosely structured environments. Her specialties include employee relations,

coaching and communications, org design, process improvement, and policy design. Erin enjoys

developing creative and practical solutions to meet business and people needs. Erin has a BA from the State University of NY at Buffalo and currently resides in Nashville, TN.

Laura Crick is a seasoned HR professional with over 10 years of experience in the fields of employee relations, benefits and compensation benchmarking. Her passion for understanding and optimizing the employee experience has been a driving force throughout her career. Laura holds a BS from UC Davis.

Christie has experience in full-cycle recruiting and recruiting operations at tech and life sciences companies ranging from seed stage to fortune 500. She has a passion for finding great talent and crafting excellent candidate experiences. Christie holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin.

DJ has nearly 15 years of experience in the People space. From some of the most reputable Fortune 100s to visionary growth-stage companies, DJ has held impactful leadership roles within Total Rewards and People Operations during some of the most revolutionary periods for People professionals. DJ's expertise with best-in-class tech stacks, analytics + reporting processes, and broad domain expertise in all things People have allowed him to assess, recommend, implement, and embed vital and exemplary solutions for his clients. His passion for DEIB provides a unique and ever-so-important additional layer of perspective, ensuring all practices are pressure-tested through an equitable lens. DJ is based in Dallas, TX, and he holds a BBA from Stephen F. Austin State University and an MBA from The University of Texas.

Nellie has over 10 years of experience in Learning & Development and program management. Nellie started her career at a small edtech startup where she wore many hats across product, recruiting, and people management. She then worked at Uber, Google, and Datadog in Learning & Development and Program Manager roles. At each of those companies, Nellie had the opportunity to build L&D programs and scale them to large global audiences. At Google, she also helped run operations for the company's internal product incubator. She holds a BS from Middlebury College.

Over the past 12 years, Laura has dedicated her career to all things people oriented. From recruiting to offboarding and everything in between, Laura has hands-on experience with all aspects of the employee life cycle both at large international organizations and small start ups. As a People Leader, she has built and coached leadership into creating highly functional teams that are also highly enjoyable to be a part of. What she really loves to do is help create processes and systems that are simple and repeatable so everyone can focus on what really matters. She has her BA in Communications and her MSHRM from USC.