Who We Are

Desarie French is a human resources consultant with over 25 years of experience as an HR professional. Her various HR leadership roles have been focused on building, scaling, and optimizing HR functional areas while delivering solutions that improve the employee experience, engagement, culture, and operations. Desarie excels at advancing human capital strategy and organizational development, revolutionizing an HR function into a strategic powerhouse. Prior to consulting, Desarie led and managed the HR functions for Invitae and Thermo Fisher Scientific

Richard Tazik is a human resources consultant with over 25 years of experience in compensation and benefits. His various HR leadership roles have been focused on creating and developing innovative global compensation and benefits plans. Richard is a strategic thinker with a strong ability to create, cultivate, and build trust with leaders and employees. His strengths lie in setting total rewards strategy and direction, managing change, and driving results. Prior to consulting, Richard led and managed Total Rewards for OneMain Financial, Global Compensation for the Technology and Operations groups at BNY Mellon, and the North America Consumer Bank and the Global Consumer Bank at Citi.

Ani Khachatoorian is a human resources consultant with over 20 years of experience in HR leadership roles. Ani possesses extensive experience in the high technology industry both domestically and internationally with a proven track record of leading all aspects of human resources, from start-up stages to post IPO and beyond. She excels at developing strong business partnerships at all levels of the organization and across disciplines. Ani has a deep history of success in recruitment, employee relations, policy development, benefits, compensation and project implementation management. Prior to consulting, Ani led and managed the HR functions for Thrive Market, Aspiration, DISQO, TeleSign, Baxalta, SOS International, Guidance Software, and Brentwood International.

Emily McGinnis is a human resources consultant with over 15 years of HR experience. Emily specializes in solving complex business problems with an eye for enhancing the employee experience, optimizing HR processes, and strengthening the employer brand by building cultures of well-being and engagement. Prior to joining NLB, Emily held a variety of HR and project management roles in corporate settings, including SunTrust Bank. She also worked as a human capital consultant with Deloitte Consulting, working with clients such as The Coca-Cola Company, Walmart, Johnson Controls, and Baxter Healthcare.

Patty Cabot is an HR/Communications consultant with more than 25 years of professional internal communications experience. Her focus has been on writing, editing and project-managing a broad range of content from inception to launch for internal and external audiences. Patty partners with clients to successfully develop and execute strategic communication campaigns that educate, influence and motivate stakeholders while reinforcing business goals. Prior to consulting, Patty worked in various corporate internal communication roles at American Express, Citigroup and Thomson Financial Services. She is nationally recognized for her work in the internal communications space, presenting at conferences and winning numerous awards for her work including her communication plans and campaigns.

Rochelle Schwindt is an HR consultant with 20 years of professional HR experience. She has a proven track record of developing HR in start-up organizations and optimizing HR in established organizations, consistently looking for ways to align her clients’ strategic goals with their people practices. Rochelle is a collaborative leader who fosters a culture of openness, inclusion and empowerment and thrives on partnering with management teams to drive business strategy and results. Prior to consulting, Rochelle worked in various corporate HR leadership roles at Blue Origin, Brevard Public Schools, DynCorp International, CareerSource Brevard, DTX, Inc., Avidyne, IAP World Services, Eastern Florida State College, Renco Electronics, Kelly Services, and the Kennedy Space Center Federal Credit Union.

Katherine Brune is a human resources consultant with over 15 years of HR experience. Katherine focuses on building the right human-centric HR programs for an organization's employees so that they can collectively deliver on the mission and profitability of their company. Her passion for accelerating cultures of care and well-being deeply shape the core of the organizations with whom she engages. Prior to consulting, Katherine held various HR leadership roles with SunTrust. She is also a faculty member at Georgia Tech, teaching career development fundamentals to upper class and graduate students.

Connie Linardakis is a human resources consultant with over 20 years of experience as seasoned CHRO and Chief People Officer. Her various HR leadership roles have been focused on leading the development and implementation of global HR models, ensuring the alignment of HR strategy with the global business strategy for both rapidly growing and established companies. Connie is an expert in leadership development, HR operations, workplace culture, succession change, and executive coaching. Prior to consulting, Connie led and managed the HR functions for Medley, Rakuten, Zions Bancorporation, Raytheon, Hewlett Packard, GE, and BP.

Aisha Ferguson is human resources consultant with over 20 years of HR experience. Aisha specializes in human capital strategy and talent management. Her extensive experience and HR leadership roles underscore her commitment to enhancing organizational effectiveness and the employee experience through each client engagement. Prior to joining NLB, Aisha led and managed the HR functions for Bialek Environments, The Washington Home, and BETAH Associates. She also worked as a HR consultant with Barker HR Consulting and Healthy Teams Consulting, as well as supported the talent acquisitions efforts at Hughes Network Systems and Telesis Corporation.

Brian Mitchell is a human resources consultant and employee benefits expert with nearly 30 years of experience in benefits leadership and administration roles. Brian possesses a holistic comprehension of the healthcare delivery system with a keen understanding of benefits administration best practices. He has effectively designed and redesigned a wide-range of benefit programs and healthcare solutions. Prior to consulting, Brian led and managed the benefits and compensation programs for AdventHealth and McKee Foods Corporation.

Jessica Rivera has worked in HR for over 20 years focused on building and rebuilding a solid foundation for HR programs and structures. Her functional areas of expertise include organizational structure and design, employee relations and coaching, engagement, total rewards, and compliance. She's great at dealing with ambiguity, taking action, driving change, and working with senior leaders to foster an engaging culture. Prior to consulting, Jessica held HR leadership roles in the Finance, Fintech, and Hospitality industries. She has both bachelor's and master's degrees in human resources management from Florida International University.

Laura has over 30 years of experience in employee benefits and has worked for popular companies like Nasdaq, S&P Global, Conde Nast, and Time Warner. She helps clients create and execute programs that provide benefits to employees, offers HR healthcare solutions, and establishes HR policies. She holds a Bachelor's in Marketing from Fordham University and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). She also holds certifications in Global Benefits Management from IFEBP and HR Ethics from HRCI.

Kimberlee Yates is a human resources consultant with over 25 years of experience in HR leadership roles. She has a strong generalist background providing innovative solutions that maximize business performance, strengthen employee alignment, and increase employee engagement. Kimberlee is best known for her success in managing, motivating and building cohesive teams that achieve results. Prior to consulting, Kimberlee led and managed HR business partner responsibilities for State National Companies, Markel, Cook’s Children Health Care System, Anthem, and Amerigroup Community Care.

Jodi Holman is a human resources consultant and employee benefits expert with nearly 30 years of experience in HR leadership roles. Her depth of total rewards experience is expansive, from managing complex retirement plans, to conducting plan mergers due to M&A activity, to leading the global benefits function for a 60,000+ employee organization. Jodi’s attention to detail, strict adherence to compliance, collaborative leadership style, and ability to break down complex topics for easy explanation position her to be a valuable extension of her client’s teams. Prior to consulting, Jodi led and managed the benefits programs for Ascena Retail Group, BISYS (Citigroup), and The Ohio Company.

Jeff Houser is a seasoned HR consultant with over 25 years of HR experience across diverse industries, specializing in talent management, HRIS/HCM systems, and DEIB initiatives. Jeff helps clients to optimize its people operations by focusing on compliance, refining policies, and strengthening workplace culture. Prior to consulting, Jeff transformed HR functions at organizations like United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon University, bringing expertise in process improvement, performance management, and strategic HR alignment. He has worked for other well-known organizations like Kraft Heinz, Bayer, University of Pittsburgh and Philips Respironics.

Barbara Portal is a human resources consultant with extensive experience leading all aspects of compensation, benefits, and shared services. Barbara leans on her transformative approach and depth of experience to help clients make meaningful, impactful changes to their total rewards programs. She enjoys focusing her work on project management, corporate and executive compensation, and employee benefits enhancements. Prior to consulting, she led large, global, and diverse teams in delivering innovative rewards solutions that address the evolving business and regulatory landscape. Barbara spent 13 years with PepsiCo and held several leadership positions within the Global Compensation and Benefits organization. Barbara has worked for Frontier Communications, Frenkel & Company (now EPIC Consulting), and United HealthCare.