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Our Team
All of our people are highly trained professionals with a wealth of practical real world experience.
Eileen Ward, Founder, was named 2005 Outstanding HR Professional by the Buffalo Niagara Human Resource Association. She offers our clients a wealth of talent and more than 30 years combined experience in executive search, corporate human resources, human resource consulting, small business development and career transition counseling. She is widely recognized for her skills in recruiting hard-to-find talent, especially engineers and highly compensated executives. As a colleague and business advisor, Eileen's counsel is frequently sought by senior management on a wide variety of personnel and organizational challenges. She supports the community through memberships and volunteerism with emphasis on helping those in need. She is also founder of the Western New York Consultant's Forum.
ekward@ekward.com
Lateyfa Ali, President and General Manager, has over 25 years experience in human resource management, personnel assessment, executive coaching, executive search, strategic planning, team leadership, and project planning. Her corporate experience includes VP of Human Resources at a $15 billion diversified financial institution where she established innovative recruitment and employee relations programs. She also held senior positions at the General Motors Center for Human Resources and the Housing Division of the City of Atlanta. Lateyfa's generalist experience, leadership skills and diverse background make her uniquely qualified to manage value-based performance improvement projects.
lali@ekward.com
Laura Corey, SPHR, Principal of E. K. Ward & Associates of the Southern Tier, is a founder and President of the Jamestown-area chapter of SHRM. She brings more than 20 years of human resources experience to EKW&A of the Southern Tier. As a former Director of Human Resources for one of the largest worldwide ISO-9000 registrars, Laura has proven leadership skills in staffing and recruitment, training and development, employee relations, organizational development, compensation and benefits as well as experience in international human resource management. Her experience in a team-based Fortune 300 corporation's start-up manufacturing facility with first line supervision, high performance work teams, and organizational skills assessment and development has given her extensive manufacturing expertise along with international and service operational capabilities.
lcorey@ekward.com
Anne Mahoney Glose, Vice President & Principal, led corporate and regional HR functions for over 10 years including employment, employee relations, compensation, and benefits. She is considered an expert in relocation having successfully completed over 100 senior executive relocations over a 3-year period. Anne works with our clients to understand their business needs and how HR can be positioned to reach their goals and objectives. Her past experience in HR provides her with targeted perspective that allows her to function effectively as a strategic partner to our clients. She is instrumental in coaching and directing senior HR managers, and is widely called upon by our clients to develop staffing models and retention strategies. Anne creates and delivers communication audits that allow our clients to focus on core competencies by resolving operational and interpersonal conflict. She has also been developing and delivering training programs over the past 10 years.
aglose@ekward.com
Doreen Murphy, Vice President & Principal, has over 20 years experience in management and human resources. Her background includes recruitment, training, HR compliance, employee assistance, compensation, employee relations, and productivity improvement. Doreen's experience is applicable across a wide range of consulting projects. She participates in local roundtable groups and is responsible for ensuring a smooth and consistently high level of response to our clients via operational planning and scheduling. Doreen has coordinated and conducted thousands of employee separations, and designed corporate outplacement programs serving employees at all levels, and she spearheads the start-up operations for our dedicated career management and career transition centers.
dmurphy@ekward.com
Linda Warning, Vice President & Principal, has experience as a senior human resource director which includes planning strategically with business management to build high-impact HR organizations and consulting on corporate restructuring efforts. In addition to her human resources background, Linda also achieved senior management responsibility in consumer finance, and ran a successful business for more than five years before joining EKW&A. Once here, she led a major initiative to link family-owned businesses with New York's Ownership Transition Services program. Linda uses her unique background and skills effectively with senior executives who are considering self-employment. Over the past five years, Linda has studied and gained considerable expertise in technology. Specifically, ways to host and deliver comprehensive HR programs and operations support.
lwarning@ekward.com
Monica Alfano, Administrative Assistant, has over 10 years experience in administrative support and customer service. She has worked in a variety of industries as a Human Resources Assistant, Administrative Assistant and CSR. Monica is responsible for coordinating our front office functions, from greeting career transition participants to assisting them in meeting their unique needs. Monica's excellent technical skills are invaluable in the preparation of participants' marketing materials including stand-out resumes. Her outgoing personality and friendly demeanor make each and every participant feel welcome at E. K. Ward & Associates.
malfano@ekward.com
Lynn Boyle, Office Administrator, hails from Canada with extensive experience living overseas (from Europe to Southeast Asia to the tip of Africa). Lynn brings a unique sense of flexibility to her position. With a secretarial degree earned in Lausanne, Switzerland where she also studied French, Lynn has over 15 years experience supporting executives in diverse fields including human resources, sales, general management, and not-for-profit translation services. Lynn's professional and can-do attitude enhance any project she works on, while her strong organizational skills and expertise in desktop publishing, computer systems and software ensure the smooth functioning of all aspects of our operations.
lboyle@ekward.com
Elizabeth (Beth) Bradley, Ed.D., Senior Consultant, earned her doctorate in curriculum planning at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her work in curriculum and staff development and accountability models has been commended. As an investigator and consultant, Beth has experience handling complaints of sexual abuse and harassment. She has consulted and conducted training in New York, Massachusetts and Arizona on the topics of professional behavior, harassment prevention and handling allegations of misconduct. Beth, a certified Franklin Covey 7 Habits and Trust Building trainer, has worked with boards and leadership teams and has received numerous statewide awards. Her interests lie in building a climate of trust in the workplace.
ebradley@ekward.com
Susan Burton, Senior Consultant, has over 15 years experience in the Human Resource field specializing in executive search and recruitment, employment and employee relations issues, and corporate outplacement. She uses her vast wealth of general HR knowledge to assist clients with outsourced projects including developing HR infrastructures from the ground up.
sburton@ekward.com
Maureen Carlson, Affiliate Consultant, has specialized in compensation and wage and salary administration for over 20 years. Her experience includes both corporate and consulting positions in a variety of industries and organizations, with a concentration in financial services and health care. She is an expert in job analysis and evaluation and is experienced with jobs across all functional areas. She also has an extensive background in Human Resource Information Systems, having participated in the design, installation and on-going development of HR/Payroll and Time and Attendance applications. Her understanding of HR operational issues has allowed her to develop innovative solutions to enhance and improve operational effectiveness and efficiency with automation. Her background also includes development and implementation of standardized policies and procedures.
mcarlson@ekward.com
Gerald Glose, Ed. D has over 30 years of public education experience in various leadership roles, culminating as the superintendent of a large Western New York school district. His background includes organizing and facilitating large and small group committees, planning capital expansions, evaluating staff, providing leadership in labor relations and negotiations, conducting searches and interviews for executive staff, designing and implementing strategic plans and evaluating programs. He is a trained facilitator for Steven Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. Since his retirement from public education, he has served in a leadership capacity on a wide variety of community and business boards. His experience and insights add value to our Strategic Leadership, Organizational Development, and Executive Coaching Programs. gpglose@ekward.comTanya Harrington, Controller, has over 25 years experience in Accounting/Bookkeeping for Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable. Her background includes monthly closing and consolidation of reports for international accounting, general ledger entries, in addition to generating monthly/quarterly/annual reports required by the federal and state government. She has proven creative abilities in the design and implementation of efficient PC applications. She also is known for her in-depth knowledge of QuickBooks Financial Software for Small Business.
tharrington@ekward.com
Susan Jones, Senior Executive Search Consultant, specializes in senior level recruiting assignments for domestic and international clients. Prior to joining EKW&A's Executive Search practice, Susan held senior HR positions at several companies with local and global operations. With over 20 years of recruiting experience, her focus has been to service clients with difficult-to-find talent. Susan has a particular penchant for selling to the recruited candidate. She excels at building both strong client and candidate relationships that ultimately result in successful placements. Susan is based out of our satellite office in Columbus, Ohio.
sjones@ekward.com
Brian Pettit, Director of Business Services, brings 25 years of professional HR experience as a business partner in high tech aerospace, electronics, and pharmaceuticals, food processing, financial services and not for profit organizations. He has significant experience in business and succession planning. Brian has conducted international searches for executives, PhD scientists, and engineers using a competency-based matrix selection tool for candidate comparison. Brian achieved master trainer certification in leadership curriculum at Motorola University. Brian has secured many training grants; developed score card metrics; crisis management plans; 360 degree feedback instruments; and international HR policy and procedure manuals for companies recently completing mergers and acquisitions.
bpettit@ekward.com
Leah Porsley, Administrative Assistant, EKW&A of the Southern Tier, has an administrative background that includes extensive customer service, sales and marketing and computer skills. Leah is responsible for the successful implementation of all front office practices, from reception, to ordering supplies, and all other administrative duties. Leah is also responsible for assisting the Client Services Manager in ensuring that all of the processes of Client Services run smoothly, from administering client work orders to producing resumes.
lporsley@ekward.com
Melissa S. Tucker, SPHR, Affiliate Consultant, has over 20 years of human resources and consulting experience. Her broad range of experience includes diversity and inclusion strategy development, employee relations, regulatory compliance and talent management and development. She has worked with organizations from start up to Fortune 500 companies along with nonprofit, educational, and government organizations. Her experience in working with diverse entities has strengthened her capability to deliver customized value based solutions that meet specific organizational needs. Melissa has used her talent and project orientation on a wide variety of HR outsourcing projects and especially on diversity and inclusion initiatives and training. She has also been instrumental in assisting organizations with regulatory compliance including HR Audits, AAP development and EEO litigation investigation.
mstucker@ekward.com
John Ward, Senior Consultant, after 4 years in the US Air Force, John began his career administering and interpreting psychological testing as well as directing employment for an Atomic Energy Commission facility. His background consists not only of human resources, but also manufacturing management in atomic energy, steel, metals and pressure-sensitive tape industries. He holds degrees in both business and technology. John's role within EKW&A consists of handling on-site employment projects and making multiple hires for clients who are experiencing growth. He is an expert in conducting professional searches for candidates for engineering and generic positions within the steel, abrasives and ceramics industries. John also assists in conducting outplacement workshops and marketing directly to potential employers, both outplacement and spousal relocation participants.
"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there."
Coach John Wooden
