Diversified Search Group | Koya Partners Tapped by Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Find CHRO
March 5, 2024 – Koya Partners, a part of Diversified Search Group, has been retained by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to find a chief human resources officer. Kim Dukes, Maureen Alphonse-Charles, and Andy Tarsy of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts seeks a creative, collaborative, and experienced leader to serve as its next CHRO and head of its human resources division. This executive oversees human resources policies, practices, and activities for all executive branch employees in more than 70-plus agencies. This includes efforts to attract, retain, educate, and develop this diverse workforce while maintaining positive labor relations to ensure high-quality public services are provided to residents across the state.
The successful candidate will ideally have 10+ years of experience in human resources, with five plus years in a leadership position with significant managerial responsibilities, with a preference for candidates that have led a human resources practice for a complex enterprise or institution.
Understanding workforce needs, Koya explains that this individual will be a thought leader who anticipates future trends and consequences and creates strategies and plans accordingly. The successful candidate will bring a strong executive presence with exceptional influencing and collaboration skills, and a maturity and interpersonal savviness that will enable them to establish credibility with both leaders across state government and staff at all levels. This leader will be passionate about building and supporting a diverse workforce and fostering an inclusive culture.
The CHRO will possess comprehensive knowledge of human resources best practices, including compliance, labor law, organizational development, compensation/classification, talent acquisition and recruitment, and HR information system integrations, according to the Koya job spec. This individual will have managed a complex human resources operation with a substantial budget and headcount. The CHRO will also be skilled in developing inclusive strategies for the recruitment, hiring, and retention of diverse staff, including implementing organization-wide learning and development initiatives and opportunities. This leader will take a comprehensive approach to forecast progress and achieve sustainable, well-supported solutions with accountable, measurable systems for tracking and reporting.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts employs more than 45,000 people to serve residents across the state. State employees work to protect safety, improve healthcare, conserve natural resources, maintain local and regional transportation systems, build a strong and equitable economy, and educate current and future generations.
Diversified Search Group is a family of firms serving specialized sectors. The firm was founded almost five decades ago for the express purpose of placing diverse candidates in client organizations. Koya Partners is a part of the Diversified Search Group and is dedicated to mission-driven leadership. Koya works broadly at the senior-most levels of the mission-driven field in philanthropy, social services, arts and culture, and social justice, among others.
Combined Resources
In 2019, Koya was acquired by Diversified Search. With the combination of revenues and resources, Diversified Search and Koya now represent one of the largest non-profit and higher education practices in the executive search industry. Koya’s specialization in mission-driven search, primarily with non-profit and higher education clients, complements Diversified’s own major education, non-profit, and arts and culture practices, as well as the firm’s healthcare services, board of directors, life sciences, industrial, and digital, media, entertainment, and sports practices.
Related: Diversified Search Group | Koya Partners Recruits Chief People Officer for Brooklyn Academy of Music
Ms. Dukes is a managing director in the firm’s Boston office. For the past 25 years, she has recruited, hired, and trained candidates for managerial and executive roles, trained corporate recruiters on the art of inclusive recruiting, and served as a consultant and strategic partner to help organizations build sustainable diversity programs. Ms. Dukes also co-founded DSP Executive Search, a veteran-owned (Navy) diversity search firm that helped organizations address their talent pool gaps and assisted them in building, recruiting, and hiring balanced workforces.
Diversified Search Group | Koya Partners Seeking CEO for Philanthropy Massachusetts
Koya Partners was recently called in by Philanthropy Massachusetts to lead in its search for a new CEO. Elizabeth Lombard is leading the assignment. This leader will bring the expertise required to ensure that Philanthropy Massachusetts has operational oversight of the highest caliber and is structured to continue achieving its mission and goals. The CEO will be responsible for assuring Philanthropy Massachusetts’ value to its members and assuring high-quality programs and services for its various constituencies. Koya notes that the CEO will carry out the continued achievements of PMA’s mission and vision, leading the organization to achieve greater levels of influence, impact, innovation, and equity in the Massachusetts philanthropic market. They will provide sound fiscal leadership, staff leadership and supervision, program development, operational oversight, and external relations.
As SVP, inclusion and equity, Ms. Alphonse-Charles provides vision, leadership, and coordination for Diversified Search Group’s efforts to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across all aspects of the organization’s work. A pioneer in DEI work, she has more than 20 years of experience leading complex executive search, consulting, finance, development, and operations efforts for a variety of institutions. In addition to this role, Ms. Alphonse-Charles also serves in a managing director capacity for Koya Partners, part of Diversified Search Group. Her clients include The KIPP Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and New World Symphony. She has also partnered with a range of corporate clients such as J.P. Morgan, Northern Trust, and Deloitte, as well as non-profit organizations like the YWCA, the Boys & Girls Clubs, and Mass, Inc.
Mr. Tarsy is a managing director at Koya Partners, where he helps mission-driven organizations navigate transitions in leadership. He primarily works on searches at the CEO and executive director level. Mr. Tarsy has served as executive director of the Anti-Defamation League of New England and president of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate as well as president of the Alliance for Business Leadership.
Related: Diversified Search Group | Koya Partners Recruits CEO for Easterseals
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
