Our Mission: To drive up employment for people with disabilities, including Veterans.
The Sierra Group Foundation - Questions? Call 888.492.2402
Board of Directors
Janet Fiore – Chairman of the Board / Governmental Affairs Liaison
Janet
D. Fiore is CEO and
Founder of The Sierra Group, a 16-person consultancy operating in the areas
of Workforce Strategy, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Candidate Sourcing. Combining
her past work history in law and insurance with her drive to reverse the rate
of unemployment for people with disabilities in America, Janet lives her mission
through her work. She takes this passion to greater heights, through her role
as Chairman of the Board for this growing national Foundation. Called
on routinely as a national authority on disability policy and procedures Janet
combines her business consulting skills with her energy and understanding of
what it is like to live with and accommodate disabilities in the workplace
in almost all that she does. Janet occasionally feels ‘misunderstood' when
friends or family suggest she take time off from work – “they don't
get how much fun I having living my life's work. It's what I love
to do”. Growing the Sierra Group's Workplace Foundation is ‘one
more way' to achieve her team's mission – thus the name for
the Foundation's debut national membership program, “One More Way”.
Fiore was inspired to launch One More Way (April 2008 scheduled kickoff) by the founding fathers of the Lion's Club International who declared back in the early 1920's to “come together to do together what we cannot do alone”. As trustee to the Lion's Eye Bank, Janet is borrowing this inspiration to further her Foundation's mission regarding research and information dissemination of best practices among all of the industry players. “So many great businesses and agencies are trying to connect job seekers with disabilities with resources and jobs. Given Sierra's role as the national agent to help place veterans with disabilities, she knew it was time to create a means for us all to ‘come together' to stimulate the employment numbers in a significant manner. One More Way will serve as a national forum to unite its members to share best practices and introduce valuable new relationships and resources among leaders in business, disability providers and most importantly, to match candidates with jobs!
Denise Barnes – Executive Director
Denise Barnes is a well known business leader and advocate for employment and people with disabilities. While working as the Business Connections Director at Enable America, Denise developed a national network of connections between business leaders, community groups and people with disabilities. After being lured back into corporate America, Denise continued her outreach in her job as a Director at Washington Mutual, where she managed the banking loan sales force. She is an avid supporter of collaboration and the power of synergy. Using her contacts and her energy, Denise is proud to join the Sierra Group Foundation as Executive Director where she will help to lead the new One More Way collaborative. Denise Schabacker-Barnes heads our Florida Office location and is proud to be offering her energy to continue with her affiliations with the disability community throughout the country.
“Really, the foundation of every workplace is its people” says Barnes. “After working in the area of employment and disability, I became quite impassioned regarding the absolute need to include people with disabilities into corporate diversity plans.”
William W. “Skip” Simonds – Director of Research
William
W. “Skip” Simonds has more than 30 years of experience in providing
consultative and program implementation support to businesses and organizations
of all sizes. He is a recognized authority on issues relating to workforce
availability including return to work, assistive technology, and other disability
related issues. Skip is a senior consultant with Towers Perrin, an international
human resources consulting firm. He is based in Los Angeles, CA and travels
extensively throughout the western United States. His clients are Fortune 500
corporations.
Melody Templeton – Director of Corporate Relations
Melody
Templeton is CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of Templeton Consulting based
in suburban Philadelphia. For over 20 years Melody has coached companies of
all sizes - from Fortune 500 to small family owned businesses and professional
associations - to improve organizational and individual effectiveness. She
has served on the faculties of Villanova University and the Wharton MBA and
Executive MBA programs
at the University of Pennsylvania. She conducted her fist seminar for adult
students with disabilities in 1992 and continues to find creative ways for
people of all abilities to develop excellent communication skills. McGraw-Hill
is the publisher of Melody's “Quick Guide to Great Presentation
Skills”.
Frank Henninger - Higher Education Liaison
Frank
Henninger runs a multi-million dollar university bookstore and oversees a retail
and management staff with the added challenge of staffing up considerably each
year during ‘peak seasons'. Speaking of ‘peaks,' Frank
published a book regarding his experiences in 1999 and 2000 climbing Mt. Rainier,
and is writing a sequel about his subsequent climbs there in 2002 & 2005,
with his fourth climb following bilateral total knee replacement. This business-man,
hiring manager and real life adventurer is someone whom Malcolm Gladwell would
refer to as an absolute ‘maven' of information with a particular
bent of knowledge regarding emerging technologies. Active with the Foundation's
board since 2005 Frank has been instrumental in securing countless donations
and serves as our Higher Education Liaison. Residing in the Philadelphia suburbs,
Frank is the Director of the University Shop at Villanova University. He holds
a B.S. degree
in Biology & Psychology, and an M.A. degree
in Liberal Studies.
Jeff Horner – Board Member
Jeff
Horner is a 25 year veteran of the call center services industry, specializing
in the development and implementation of programs, campaign designs, facilities,
compliance standards, and staffing solutions. His client base includes industry
leading fortune 500 companies in the financial services, banking, telecommunications,
utilities, healthcare and government industries. Mr. Horner is recognized in
the industry as the innovative leader who has developed a successful program
to drive increases in call center performance in private business markets through
the employment of people with disabilities. His convergence of directed sourcing
and recruiting techniques, use of assistive technology at the workstation level,
and support services has proven to achieve low turnover rates, resulting in
high performance metrics with reduced training cost for the centers. Mr.
Horner is based in Columbus, Ohio and works domestically and internationally.
Matt Murphy – Board Member
Matt Murphy is responsible for sales and new business development at RecruitMillitary.
Matt was a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy, having served
on the USS Hepburn (FF-1055). Matt left active duty as a lieutenant. After
the Navy, he obtained his law degree from the University of Buffalo and practiced
law for the University of Pennsylvania Health System before moving on to lead
a Philadelphia-area mergers and acquisitions consulting firm. Matt joined RecruitMilitary
in 2005 to develop new channels for business, new candidate aggregation strategies,
and new lines of business.
RecruitMilitary is the country's only nationwide, full-service military-to-civilian recruiting firm. The Company's mission is to connect Corporate America with military veterans, and has worked with over 6,500 corporate clients since 1998, while having a database of over 200,000 registered job-seeking veterans, including veterans with disabilities. Matt has been instrumental in partnering with The Foundation to connect Corporate America to veterans with disability.
Mary Flynn – Board Member
Mary Flynn is an occupational health nurse and has extensive experience in
the field of corporate ergonomics. She has overseen national projects that
combined traditional and technology assisted ergonomic interventions for stay
at work programs. Her work has opened up doors for more ‘bring to work' opportunities
for people with disabilities. She is also experienced in the interrelationship
between ergonomic practice and lost time claims. Mary's extensive experience
in the area of workplace health and safety bring a valuable perspective to
the issues surrounding disability at work. Residing in Connecticut, Mary is
employed at Prudential Insurance.
Joe Padula – Board Member
Joe Padula is a seasoned financial broker with more than 12 years of experience
managing portfolios for individual and corporate clients. Committed to financial
growth and attaining wealth for all of his clients, Joe is a valuable asset
to the Foundation's fundraising team and gives valued insight regarding
all fiscal activities, including helping to quantify and promote the business
to business value of our Employment Incentives web portal. As the spouse of
an industry ‘insider' Joe is familiar with the unique assets that
people with disabilities offer to American businesses. Residing in the Philadelphia
suburbs, Joe is VP of RBC Wealth Management.
Suzanne Padula – Board Member
Suzanne
Padula is a rehabilitation technology consultant with more than 12 years field
experience conducting worksite assessments for employees with disabilities.
Combining her degree in Psychology and Education, she has designed and delivered
adaptive curriculum for several hundred people with disabilities helping arm
them with soft and hard skills needed for employment. Suzanne is the wife of
co- board member Joe Padula. Residing in the Philadelphia suburbs, Suzanne
is a part time consultant with The Sierra Group, Inc, and full time mother
to two young children.
Michael Fiore – Board Member
Michael
Fiore, BSE; MBA,
is the CFO and
Co-Founder of The Sierra Group,
a 16-person consultancy operating in the areas of Workforce Strategy, Vocational
Rehabilitation, and Candidate Sourcing. Combining his engineering and business
degrees, Michael consults with the insurance industry and businesses on the
implications of disability to bottom line goals and financial objectives. He
heads the firm's Hire Heroes USA partnership,
where he facilitates services and linkages for thousands of veterans with disabilities
seeking re-employment. Michael routinely publishes and speaks on issues on
disability and economics. He is on the Board of the Villanova University Ryan
Center for the Study of Free Institutions. As a Founding Board Member of The
Sierra Group Workplace Foundation, Michael designed and developed the Foundation's
popular individual micro-grant program; was the ‘brains behind' the
Foundation's popular national web portal www.employmentincentives.com;
and is the catalyst for gathering and sharing best practices through White
Papers and the Foundation's new series of One More Way programs and activities.
Douglas L. Pilarski - Board Member
Doug is a Consultant in Talent Acquisition and Management and has had the
privilege to undertake consulting engagements for some of the most respected
corporations in the world. He has completed search assignments for senior
executives in the Middle East, India/ASEAN, Asia/Pacific markets as well as
Europe and the Americas in a diverse group of industries. He started his
firm, Crescent Strategic Resources, in 1987.
In addition to his work as a consultant, Doug has held a variety of corporate HR positions with Fortune 500 companies including Director Corporate & Executive Staffing with a well known Insurance company, and Project Manager – Diversity Staffing & Community Outreach Initiatives with a major retailer, and 6 years in Osaka & Tokyo as Director Global Recruitment with a professional services firm. In addition, he launched the popular strategicdiversity.com website, now in its fourth year of daily publication.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, he attended the University of Pittsburgh. Doug has traveled extensively and welcomes speaking engagements and workshops on the topic of “Talent Management for the Disabled Workforce”. He resides in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas.
INTERESTED? Please contact The Sierra Group via e-mail at info@thesierragroup.com or by phone at 1.888.492.2402.
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Accessibility - Compliance - Diversity