Highland Heights, Ohio – ERC, the human resource organization that provides training, coaching, consulting, research, and HR support services locally and nationally, is pleased to announce that Alison Brunsdon has joined the company as Director, Coaching & Assessment Services.

Alison brings over 30 years of experience across major sectors and disciplines of HR. She is an experienced coach to leaders, teams, and individuals, who has the vision and proven ability to drive transformative organizational change.

In her role, Alison leads a robust coaching and assessment practice that is founded on current trends and concrete research. She oversees executive coaching, business development activities, and a team of professional coaches dedicated to meeting the needs of our clients. Alison also manages ERC’s assessments suite, ensuring the offerings meet market demands. 

“We’re thrilled to have Alison join ERC. There are countless benefits to organizations that look to develop their people through coaching and assessments, and I am delighted to have such an accomplished leader in this space. As we continue to focus on ways to make workplaces great, developing people is at the core,” said ERC President Kelly Keefe.

Previously, Alison served as the Global Director of Talent Management and Chief Talent Officer for The Lubrizol Corporation, a specialty chemical company with 9,000 employees in 27 countries. She transformed disparate training departments into international functions with world-class leadership development programs and strategic talent programs and processes. Before joining Lubrizol in 2002, Alison worked in senior HR leadership roles in the public sector and in a variety of industries, including health care, retail, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing. 

“Given her outstanding coaching experience and her broad experience as a global talent leader, it’s an honor that Alison has chosen to call ERC home,” said ERC Senior Vice President Carrie Morse, who oversees all practice areas of the organization. “I’m confident Alison will make valuable contributions to ERC’s clients as she has a unique perspective and a track record for building strong teams.”

“I’m so excited to join ERC and for the opportunity to focus on my passion of coaching,” said Alison. “Coaching is such a critical element to organizational success. I look forward to working with our clients, discovering their strengths, and identifying opportunities for growth.”

Alison received her Bachelor of Arts Honors degree in industrial relations and law from the University of Kent in Canterbury, U.K. and her Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the University of Leicester, U.K. She holds an Advanced Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring from Oxford Brookes University, U.K., and she is an accredited adjunct coach with the Center for Creative Leadership. Alison is also certified on several psychometric assessments, questionnaires, and assessment use and design.

About ERC
Founded in 1920, ERC helps organizations make their workplaces great by providing expert people solutions that include training, coaching, consulting, research, and HR support services. We’re the creators and producers of NorthCoast 99, an annual awards program in its 21st year that honors exceptional Northeast Ohio employers for top talent. ERC also sponsors the ERChealth insurance program in Ohio.

Research has shown that diverse and inclusive workplaces have a competitive edge. But how can your Northeast Ohio organization create a culture that supports varied thoughts and recruit a well-rounded workforce that drives innovation?  

Join ERC, the creator and producer of NorthCoast 99, on November 19 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Oswald Conference Centre for our featured research event – NEO Employer Best Practices Report: Diversity & Inclusion. We'll share creative strategies that award-winning, NEO workplaces are using to attract and retain diverse talent, while achieving corporate and financial performance goals.

The program will begin with an overview of diversity in the population and in corporate leadership of the 22 counties that make up NEO. We’ll then explore the data presented in the report, which will be distributed electronically to attendees prior to the event.

Specifically, we’ll examine:

• How does leadership across NEO compare with the demographics of the people who live in the region?
• How do the perceptions between over- and under-represented groups (gender and/or race) vary?
• What can NEO workplaces do to promote cultures where everyone is included, valued, and appreciated, no matter race or gender?

The event will conclude with a panel discussion of senior leaders from several 2019 NorthCoast 99 winners who are successfully creating organizations where their workforce and leadership are representative of the demographics of NEO, and who are achieving corporate and financial performance goals.

Introducing Our Guest Panelists

We're excited to announce our lineup of distinguished professionals who will participate in the panel discussion and share their organization's unique diversity and inclusion practices!

Stamy Paul – Vice President Human Resources, North Division, Airgas USA, 2-Time NorthCoast 99 Winner

Latasha Spencer – Director Talent Acquisition, Avery Dennison, 19-Time NorthCoast 99 Winner, 2019 Award of Excellence Winner for the Manufacturing Industry 

Robert Sullivan – Chief Administrative Officer, Flexjet, 16-Time NorthCoast 99 Winner, 2019 Special Category Award Winner for Diversity and Inclusion

If you're an ERC Member or 2019 NorthCoast 99 applicant, we're offering a discounted rate of $249 for the Event and Report. All Non-ERC Members and Non-NorthCoast 99 applicants are extended a rate of $349 for the Event and Report. Additional guest tickets may be purchased for $49 each.

Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. for a light breakfast and networking. Preregistration is required. 

Highland Heights, Ohio – ERC, the human resource organization that provides training, consulting, research, and HR support services locally and nationally, is pleased to announce that Folly Patterson has taken an additional and new role with the company as Manager, Talent & Content Development. This expanded role includes her current responsibilities as ERC's Senior Trainer, Learning & Development.

In her new position, Folly designs and delivers exceptional training and consulting to ERC clients. She oversees the discovery and onboarding of ERC's training team, consisting of over 40 practitioners who bring real-world expertise. Folly also creates training content that is consistent with classroom deliverables. 

"We're very excited about this new role for Folly – what a wealth of knowledge she will bring to the position!" said Sam Marx, ERC's Director, Client Service.

Prior to ERC, Folly served as a Talent Advisor for Cuyahoga County’s SkillUp program. In this role, she helped employers attract and develop talent through training. Before relocating to Cleveland in 2011, Folly directed the career center at Wellesley College, where she actively engaged and trained student and alumnae audiences across the United States.

About ERC
Founded in 1920, ERC helps organizations make their workplaces great by providing expert people solutions that include training, consulting, research, and HR support services. We’re the creators and producers of NorthCoast 99, an annual awards program in its 21st year that honors exceptional Northeast Ohio employers for top talent. ERC also sponsors the ERChealth insurance program in Ohio.

With historically low unemployment, employers are challenged to find their next new hire, or even more challenging, their next top-performing new hire. Join ERC, the creator and producer of NorthCoast 99, on October 22 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. for our featured research event – NEO Employer Best Practices Report: Recruitment, Selection, and Onboarding.

We'll share over two decades of data on organizations that have successfully navigated the hiring journey. This data-driven, interactive program will offer practical insights and solutions to the challenges facing multiple organizations and industries.

ERC’s Director, Consulting & Member Services, Susan Pyles, will lead the event and dive into data presented in our NEO Employer Best Practices Report for Recruitment, Selection, and Onboarding. The report will be distributed to attendees prior to the event. The program will conclude with a panel discussion of representatives from several 2019 NorthCoast 99 winners.

Introducing Our Guest Panelists

We're excited to announce our lineup of distinguished professionals who will participate in the panel discussion and share their organization's unique recruitment, selection, and onboarding practices!

Lillian A. Welch – Vice President, Chief Human Resource Officer at Cuyahoga Community College, 13-Time NorthCoast 99 Winner, 2019 Special Category Award Winner for Recruitment, Selection, and Onboarding 

Andrew Spott –  CEO at VividFront, First-Time NorthCoast 99 Winner

Huda Farunia – Vice President, Human Resources at Asurint, 2-Time NorthCoast 99 Winner 

Program Takeaways

· Developing and maintaining a talent pipeline
· Role of technology and social media
· Finding the right fit – assessments, interviews, and reference checks
· Onboarding programs and new employee support
· Best practices – data from NorthCoast 99 winners
· Voice of the employee – NorthCoast 99 New-Hire Survey data

If you're an ERC Member and/or 2019 NorthCoast 99 applicant, we're offering a discounted rate of $249 for the Event and Report. All Non-ERC Members and/or Non-2019 NorthCoast 99 applicants are extended a rate of $349 for the Event and Report. Additional guest tickets may be purchased for $49 each.

Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. for a light breakfast and networking.

This year's NorthCoast 99 theme, The Hero Within, is captured perfectly by this group of superheroes from Constant Aviation who brought capes to the awards event.

WHAT A CELEBRATION!

On behalf of ERC's Staff, Board, and our NorthCoast 99 Sponsors, thank you for joining us at the 21st Annual NorthCoast 99 Awards Event! We loved celebrating with you and honoring 99 great Northeast Ohio workplaces for top talent.

Congratulations again to this year's Winners!

AWARD LITHOGRAPH ORDERS

Promote your organization as a great workplace by ordering additional, framed NorthCoast 99 lithographs. Every winning organization receives one complimentary award lithograph.

Additional litho orders are accepted until October 11.

ORDER YOUR EXTRA LITHOS TODAY!

WHAT'S NEXT?

There's more coming your way from ERC and the NorthCoast 99 research team! Watch for information in the days ahead on how to order your Top Performer Summary Report, our new Recruitment, Selection, & Onboarding Report, and Diversity & Inclusion Report. Consultative opportunities will also be available to help keep your workplace great.

ERC is pleased to announce that Susan Pyles, Director, Consulting & Member Services, and Tom Ault, Director, Technical Training & Senior Consultant, have been recently certified in Myers–Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) Step II™.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is an introspective self-report that indicates different psychological preferences in how people perceive the world around them and make decisions. It is based on four principal psychological functions – sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking.

Each person is said to have one preferred quality from four categories, introversion (I) and extraversion (E);  sensing (S) and intuition (N); thinking (T) and feeling (F); and judging (J) and perceiving (P) – thus producing 16 unique personality types. For example, individuals who take the MBTI assessment and discover that their personality type is ENFJ will learn that they prefer extraversion, intuition, feeling, and judging when interpreting their experiences. It is believed that these preferences underlie an individual's interests, needs, values, and motivation. 

There are two versions of the MBTI assessment – Step I and Step II. MBTI Step I includes 93 questions and generates a report with the participant's personality type. MBTI Step II is an extended version of the Step I questionnaire that provides additional depth and clarification within each of the four original MBTI preference pairs. 

“The MBTI Step II provides a deeper level of understanding for individuals who already know their four-letter type,” said Susan. “It is used when in-depth individual feedback is needed for coaching, counseling, or executive development.”

While the MBTI personality inventory distinguishes 16 types from one another, it offers relatively few clues as to how people of the same personality type may differ. As a result, the MBTI Step II assessment was developed to enable exploration and identification of individuality within each of the 16 personality types.

The MBTI Step II personality inventory includes a four-page Step II Profile and/or an 18-page Step II Interpretive Report. Step II results show respondents their preferences further detailed into five components called facets. 

“Step II results also provide assistance to people who are having trouble identifying their best-fit type,” said Tom. “As part of our training, we assist those who are unsure if their preference ‘fits them’ by encouraging them to reflect on how they take in information and make decisions in life.”

Only a certified and experienced MBTI administrator can deliver the MBTI assessment. If you are interested in bringing the MBTI Step I or Step II assessment and training to your organization, please contact ERC's Chris Kutsko, Vice President, Learning & Development.

Highland Heights, Ohio – ERC is excited to announce our 2019 NorthCoast 99 Winners and Winner Practices Report! Now in its 21st year, NorthCoast 99 is an annual awards program we created and produce to honor 99 great Northeast Ohio workplaces for top talent.

“More than a business award or event, NorthCoast 99 is a yearlong research project ERC established to help employers make a difference in the lives of people working and living in our 22-county region,” noted ERC senior vice president Carrie Morse, who has overseen the program for the last 17 years.

NorthCoast 99 winners participated in a rigorous application process that asked for detailed information on how their organization addresses top-performer attraction, development, and retention in five distinct areas: organizational strategy, policies, and communication; recruitment, selecting, and onboarding; employee well-being; employee engagement and development; and total rewards.

“We’re thrilled to recognize and celebrate this year’s NorthCoast 99 Award winners! With unemployment at a 49-year-low, the benchmarks for attracting, engaging, and retaining employees are higher than ever,” said Kelly Keefe, president of ERC. “Year after year, winning organizations are raising the bar with increasingly progressive and groundbreaking HR practices and benefits that elevate the experience of their employees.”

The 2019 NorthCoast 99 Awards program is sponsored by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield; CareerCurve; Cleveland Magazine; ERChealth; Gino’s Awards; Maloney + Novotny; Mark Wayner Creative; Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis; Oswald Companies; Staffing Solutions Enterprises; and Ultimate Software.

About ERC

Founded in 1920, ERC helps organizations make their workplaces great by providing expert people solutions that include training, consulting, research, and HR support services. ERC also sponsors the ERChealth insurance program in Ohio. 

Highland Heights, Ohio – ERC, the human resource organization that provides training, consulting, research, and HR support services locally and nationally, is pleased to announce that Annie Dohnal and Hayley McQuate have both been promoted to the position of Client Service Manager.

 Upon joining ERC in 2014, Annie served as Client Service Associate. In her new role as Client Service Manager, she oversees the coordination of existing member accounts as well as new business development. Annie also organizes netwERC groups and manages the members-only connectwERC online discussion forum.

Hayley has held the position of Client Service Associate since 2017, when she joined ERC. In her new role as Client Service Manager, she oversees the account management of clients, vendors, independent consultants, and trainers. She also administers ERC’s Training Programs, provides instructional design support to trainers, and hosts our webinars.

“We're so proud of Annie and Hayley and look forward to their continued contributions to ERC and our clients," said Sam Marx, Director, Client Service. "They're proven talents and will continue to play a key role in ERC’s growth.” 

Annie holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, with a minor in psychology from Wheeling Jesuit University, and Hayley received her bachelor's degree in business administration, with a minor in human resources from Kent State University. 

About ERC
Founded in 1920, ERC helps organizations make their workplaces great by providing expert people solutions that include training, consulting, research, and HR support services. We’re the creators and producers of NorthCoast 99, an annual awards program in its 21st year that honors exceptional Northeast Ohio employers for top talent. ERC also sponsors the ERChealth insurance program in Ohio.

ERChealth, our 20-year-old Ohio health insurance program that has saved over $200 million for 40,000 members, is pleased to sponsor the Crain's Cleveland Business Excellence in HR Awards on August 6, 2019 at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown.

Formerly known as the Archer Awards, this program recognizes Northeast Ohio's outstanding human resource executives, teams, and business leaders who are building companies with the best people, talent, development, and culture.

This event highlights organizations in nine categories, including Overall Excellence – HR Executive/Team of the Year, Compensation and Benefits, HR Innovator, Diversity & Inclusion, Employee Experience, and more. According to Crain's, recipients of these awards have gone above and beyond their duties and are making lasting impressions in their field.

"Engaged individuals and high-performing teams are making a difference in workplaces across Northeast Ohio. We're proud to support this event and the HR leaders who work tirelessly to make their organization a destination for top talent," said ERC Senior Vice President Carrie Morse. 

Registration for the Excellence in HR Awards program is available on the Crain's Cleveland Business website. 

ERC Members: Use the promo code: ERC19 to get $10 off your event registration. Hurry! This offer expires at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, August 1, 2019.

Thanks to Crain's Content Studio - Cleveland, ERC President Kelly Keefe participated in this informative Tech Matters article about social responsibility. Read on to find out how companies are integrating innovative technology solutions to help drive corporate sustainability strategies.