hrQ Taps HR Executive to Lead Houston Office
January 18, 2017 – Executive search and professional services firm hrQ has appointed Brent McCombs as vice president and managing director of its Houston office.
Mr. McCombs comes to hrQ from Intermountain Health, where he served as AVP-HR overseeing talent acquisition and workforce optimization. He previously held HR leadership roles within a KKR portfolio company, Waste Management, ThermoFisher Scientific, Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Cardinal Health.
He has deep knowledge of full-cycle HR practices and effective collaboration skills. During Mr. McCombs’ tenure, companies he has been associated with have been named “Best Company to Work For” multiple times and have received over 50 awards for diversity, transitioning military recruiting, ethics and employment branding.
“We are pleased with the strength of human resource talent acquisition and workforce planning expertise Brent brings from many significant companies,” said Kathy Rapp, chief executive officer of hrQ. “The depth of his national network and knowledge of the human capital professional services sector will serve hrQ’s current and future client base well.”
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“hrQ has been a respected brand and operation in the Houston market for almost 10 years now, and Brent’s depth in the healthcare industry along with his passion around the talent lifecycle in organizations will complement the outstanding work the team is already doing in the market and beyond,” Ms. Rapp noted.
hrQ focuses exclusively on the human resources sector, providing HR professionals for short or long term contract assignments and full time hires as well as offering expertise on a variety of human resource consulting projects. The firm serves clients via three service offerings: HR search, interim HR staffing and HR consulting. Current office locations are in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
HR Leaders Transition to Recruiters
“These are new and exciting career paths being developed for talent acquisition professionals,” said Scott A. Scanlon, founding chairman and CEO of Hunt Scanlon Media. “For CHROs, chief talent officers and other C-suite HR executives, the cross-over skills required in the search business are nearly identical and we’ve tracked a number of successful transitions recently.”
Hunt Scanlon Media, indeed, has taken note of the recent trend among top ranking HR executives reestablishing themselves as executive recruiters. Here’s a quick look at some of the more prominent ones:
- Grace Blue Partnership named Jean-Michel Wu as its Asia Pacific chief executive officer. Mr. Wu previously served as chief talent officer at McCann Worldgroup;
- Battalia Winston appointed Frederick Lamster as a partner in the firm’s retail practice. Mr. Lamster is a veteran human resources and staffing professional whose career spans more than 25 years. He previously served as CHRO for Orchard Brands, a $1.1 billion catalog marketer;
- Curran Partners added Robert F. Obst as a new partner. Mr. Obst brings more than 40 years of corporate experience in talent acquisition and organizational development. Most recently, he was chief human resources and facilities officer (CHRO) for MacroGenics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company in Rockville, MD;
- Johnson Executive Search named Carol Crawford to lead the firm’s newly established HR division. Ms. Crawford spent 17 years as CHRO with McKenna Long & Aldridge, which grew during her tenure from a mid-sized regional firm to an Am Law 100 firm with an international presence;
- Executive search firm Salveson Stetson Group added Michael A. Biondolillo as senior vice president in its Radnor, PA office. Most recently, he served as SVP of HR for Henkel Corporation – Americas. During his career, he led other global human resource initiatives for QVC, Inc.; Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company; MG Industries; and General Electric;
- Sheffield Haworth appointed John Budriss as executive director of corporate officers in the firm’s technology practice. He most recently ran all talent acquisition for Bloomberg and was CHRO leading talent and people-related activities for Bloomberg’s enterprise division. He formerly served as global head of talent acquisition at Thomson Reuters;
- Plymouth Search Partners – Signium added Mark S. Fogel as managing director in its New York City office. He formerly served as CHRO for Success Academy Charter Schools. He is the recipient of multiple human resources leadership and innovation awards nationally, including the Society for Human Resources (SHRM) human capital leader of the year award and HR Executive Magazine Honor roll designation.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media
