Our Talent Team

Lauren Harris is an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist who appreciates the blend of science and practice. She has consulted in variety of industries including telecommunications, transportation, paper/pulp/hardwood, non-profit, government, and education. Her expertise lies in the areas of competency development, selection, performance management, survey design, and leadership development. She has done everything from develop and deliver structured behavioral interviews to provide feedback and goal setting around 360s to develop large-scale climate surveys for organizations.

 Joanna is currently a senior at Emory University majoring in Strategy and Management Consulting in the Goizueta Business School and Psychology. She joined Designs on Talent because of her interest in the field of human resources management. Currently, she is a happy intern helping the consultants with their projects, as well as researching on the latest talent management and HR trends. With the help of everyone from Designs on Talent, she is learning every day about HR, and plans to pursue a career in the same path.

Cecilia is a collaborative and strategic HR executive with nearly 20 years experience leading Corporate and Field Human Resources.  Prior to consulting, Cecilia spent the majority of her career with Yum! Brands where she  last served as Vice President of Restaurant Excellence, Human Resources and Training, reporting jointly to the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief People Officer.  She led her group in the design and development of global HR core processes and tools for approximately 30,000 restaurants worldwide ($9B in sales).  Cecilia received the Chairman’s Award (the highest recognition honor given by Yum’s CEO) for her personal leadership in this area which significantly reduced employee attrition at the restaurant level, boosting customer service and profitability. 

Drawing on several years of experience leading HR operations, Coleen Aus is committed to helping her clients select and implement the talent management solutions they need to hire and retain top talent. Coleen has been a senior consultant with Talent Function Group since June 2010. In this role, she channels her passion for HR process and technology to help Talent Function’s clients make informed decisions about the many talent management solutions available. Working with clients’ HR and business stakeholders, she helps companies implement new technologies, and develop and drive change management plans to ensure success and help achieve organizational goals. Coleen has also worked with clients to evaluate current state processes and technology and provide a roadmap for optimizing what is currently in place in cases where budget constraints will not allow changes in technology.

Holly Ratcheson is an accomplished HR professional with more than 14 years of experience in Fortune 500 companies. She brings a breadth of knowledge in organizational development, talent and performance management, HR process improvement and change management in the retail industry. Holly began her career as a Human Performance Consultant at Accenture. During this time she worked with big-box retailers (Best Buy, Meijer and Toys R Us), guiding clients through large-scale transformational and process changes. Specific responsibilities included business readiness, stakeholder engagement, training, communications planning, and adoption measurement. Several years later, a former client, Best Buy, hired her where she worked for over 8 years, in a variety of roles within HR.

Angela Alper is an accomplished HR leader and consultant with broad expertise across the Human Capital spectrum. With proven results in change management, talent strategy, talent acquisition and HR transformation, Angela helps companies integrate their talent challenges with the needs of the business to achieve superior results. She specializes in organizational change, communication and process improvement with a focus on ways to maximize the impact of the business, the employees and the HR practice. She works to create solutions that are innovative, pragmatic, data-driven and effectively integrated within the broader organization.

John Chaisson, our friend, colleague, mentor and "strategic consigliere", passed away unexpectedly in Atlanta on December 19, 2012 at the age of 46. John was selfless, brilliant, caring and loved.

Danette specializes in talent acquisition, business process, employee relations and talent management. Prior to joining Designs on Talent, she worked at Assurant, Inc, a Fortune 500 company, in a variety of roles including VP of Talent Acquisition and VP of Human Resources.

Julie Cummings is an accomplished HR professional with ten years of experience in the areas of talent management, leadership development and staffing process improvement. She began her career at The Home Depot by being selected to participate in the company’s exclusive Business Leadership Program, their fast-track leadership training program.