| Kristina M. Moris Kathy Dellplain Michael Melancon |
Robin Nielsen J. Tucker Miller Kelsey Berg |
Penny Christie Jane Palmer Desree Griffin |
Theresa Partlow |
Kristina M. Moris, President
Kristina Moris is an expert executive coach, consultant, facilitator, and speaker who brings a rare combination of business savvy and HR expertise to each client The Washington Firm works with. Her training in finance, marketing, and business administration helps her extend her perspective beyond the HR department to appreciate the full context in which employees work, and understand how best to align people and policies with the requirements of the business.
For nearly 20 years, Kristina has led the Washington Firm with a deep understanding of workplace and employee dynamics, a commitment to outstanding client service, and proven skill in applying the right approaches in the right ways to accomplish specific outcomes. Her accessible manner helps her engage with all kinds of employees in productive, goal-oriented ways, even in the context of difficult personnel matters. As a result, she has earned a reputation for delivering results in specialties such as leadership development, management training, high performance team development, investigations, and creating a respectful workplace through the prevention of discrimination and harassment. Kristina has worked with clients in a diverse range of fields including media, healthcare, e-commerce, government, construction, and legal, building a deep base of industry knowledge as well as familiarity with key trends in these verticals over time.
Prior to joining The Washington Firm in 1992, Kristina spent six years with King Broadcasting Company, first as Human Resources Director for KING TV, KING AM/FM Radio, and Corporate Headquarters, then as VP of Human Resources for the cable television division. In these roles, she facilitated management retreats, designed and delivered management training, and provided human resource consulting services. Before moving to King, Kristina had worked at Eli Lilly and Company.
Kristina earned her MBA in Human Resources from Cornell University in 1983 and has a BA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Washington.
Kathy Dellplain, Managing Director, Seattle Office
Kathy Dellplain is an experienced HR executive and a certified executive coach who leads and executes a wide variety of HR consulting projects for clients across diverse industries and markets. Over 25 years of HR leadership, she has built an outstanding track record in building HR programs, acquiring, developing and retaining top notch talent, and guiding companies through organizational transitions. Her experience has included initial public offerings, corporate spin-offs, mergers/acquisitions, expansion into numerous countries in Europe and Asia Pacific, and multiple organizational restructures; recent clients have included technology start-ups, consulting firms in social media and healthcare information systems, non-profits, and companies in financial services, medical devices, and online travel.
Most recently, Kathy held the position of Executive VP, Human Resources for Expedia, where she built the HR function from the ground up to serve an employee base which grew from 150 to 8,000 worldwide during her tenure. She previously held similar VP HR positions with healthcare information systems companies. Kathy started her career in HR management in the healthcare and soft drink industries.
Kathy holds an MBA in Human Resources and Accounting from the University of Washington and a BBA in Business Management from the University of Hawaii. She is a Certified Hudson Institute Coach, specializing in executive, leadership and career coaching.
Michael Melancon, Organizational Effectiveness Practice Leader
Michael Melancon is an accomplished designer of practical organizational effectiveness strategies for a wide range of companies. He draws on 30 years of experience as a strategic business partner to help clients maximize company performance and profitability through precise alignment of human resource initiatives with core business objectives. As a change management architect, he has aligned widely divergent corporate cultures and processes in conjunction with corporate restructuring, process reengineering, mergers, and acquisitions.
Before joining The Washington Firm, Mike worked for ProBusiness, a boutique provider of outsourced payroll and HR services for Fortune 500 companies. As VP of Human Resources, Mike directed the company's HR program and designed and implemented outsourced HR and payroll administrative products and services. Mike previously served as VP of Organizational Effectiveness and Human Resources for Cost Care, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. He began his career working and lecturing in human resource management for the University of California at both the Davis and Irvine campuses and medical centers.
Mike trained in adult learning theory at the University of California, where he holds a BS in Applied Behavioral Science.
Robin Nielsen, Senior Consultant
As a consultant with The Washington Firm, Robin Nielsen provides employers with experienced HR support. Robin conducts HR audits, drafts policies and procedures, and conducts workplace investigations. She has also developed and implemented training programs for managers and employees in the areas of preventive employment practices, sexual harassment prevention, wage and hour procedures, and discipline and discharge.
Prior to joining The Washington Firm, Robin had 15 years of experience working as a labor and employment lawyer representing small, medium, and large employers. She was a partner with the Seattle firm of Preston, Gates and Ellis (now K&L Gates), where her practice focused on issues of equal employment opportunity, wage and hour claims, and helping employers design and execute preventive employment practices. She also has nine years of experience in international development, assisting developing countries, donors, and organizations with issues relating to land rights, legal aid and access to justice, and dispute resolution systems.
Robin holds a BA in English from the University of Washington, an MA in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and a law degree from Seattle University School of Law.
J. Tucker Miller, Senior Consultant
Tucker Miller brings a rich, well-rounded perspective to her work with clients. She draws on 20 years of experience working in diverse capacities with corporations to perform engagements including executive and employee coaching services; leadership and management training; retreat facilitation and team building. She also serves as an expert witness in harassment and discrimination cases.
Prior to establishing her consulting practice in 2004, Tucker spent 17 years in various legal, HR, and corporate leadership positions. As Director of Employee Relations for a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, she responded to employee complaints, prepared responses to EEOC charges, represented the company in dispute resolution efforts, provided human resource and manager training, and routinely advised human resource leaders and generalists in responding to employee and compliance issues.
Tucker is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and is licensed to practice law in the state of Washington. She earned a BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington and a JD from Willamette University College of Law (Salem, OR).
Kelsey Berg, Senior Consultant
Kelsey Berg provides successful human resource leadership and guidance to public and private companies on issues related to employment law, coaching, conflict resolution, investigations, and recruiting. With over 18 years of experience in HR for entrepreneurial and high-technology companies, she has developed extensive skill as both a hands-on HR practitioner and a strategic leader in a variety of small, medium, and large organizations. She has proven success in developing and implementing HR tools and processes to ensure appropriate people, processes, and structure are in place to achieve business results. Her intuitive understanding of the impact of HR issues on overall business goals makes her a highly effective business partner.
Most recently, Kelsey held a senior management position in HR at Intellectual Ventures Management. Prior to Intellectual Ventures, she was VP of Recruiting at Washington Mutual and held several HR roles over a 10-year tenure at Microsoft.
Kelsey's college education includes studies in human resource management at Seattle Pacific University and National Employment Law Institute.
Penny Christie, Senior Consultant
Penny Christie is known for her distinctive approach to leadership, organization, and talent development, which includes drawing on strong business acumen to quickly understand and relate to the challenges of the business environment, then creating a highly productive rapport through her authentic communication style. Her more than 20 years of experience in HR in both Europe and North America includes working closely with individuals at all organizational levels, from first-line leadership roles to mid-level managers to senior leadership of large corporations. She has also implemented large-scale strategic change programs in a range of industries and organizational cultures, as well as a highly successful process for helping top teams align organizational goals and individual performance to drive better business results.
Before joining The Washington Firm, Penny spent five years leading the Leadership Development function for Rohm and Haas, a large, global specialty materials company. Prior to that, Penny held positions as a Strategic HR Business Partner and as Learning and Development Manager for Nortel Networks in both Europe and Canada. Her work on High Potential development has been featured by the Conference Board at their National Conference on Succession Planning.
Penny is fully accredited (British Psychological Society) in occupational personality testing and is level 2 certified in MBTI.
Jane Palmer, Senior Consultant
Jane Palmer is an executive coach, organization consultant, and professional counselor specializing in performance improvement, including building communication, problem solving, team facilitation, and decision-making capacity. Over the past 17 years, she has served clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies and high tech start-ups to countless individuals seeking business coaching and career counseling advice.
Jane began her business career as a management consultant in New York City with McKinsey & Company, Inc, advising senior executives on strategic, operating, and organizational issues. After 20 years in executive positions with Newsweek, Time, Inc. and U S West, she moved into coaching, drawing on both her extensive business experience and her knowledge as a practicing psychotherapist to help individuals and organizations realize their full potential.
Jane holds a BA from Smith College, an MBA in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University, and an MA in Psychology from Antioch University in Seattle. She is a licensed mental health counselor in Washington State and a Board Certified Professional Counselor as designated by the American Psychotherapy Association.
Desree Griffin, Senior Consultant
Desree Griffin brings to clients a combination of professional depth in employment law and compensation system design as well as extensive professional experience. With over 25 years in the HR field, she has developed comprehensive expertise in compensation design and administration, including the design and implementation of base pay, variable pay, bonus, commission, and benefits compensation systems. She also serves as interim HR Director for client organizations in transition, conducts management training and supervisory skills seminars, and conducts investigations.
Desree earlier worked in HR for Ostex, a biotech company, providing full generalist support during the company's IPO and rapid expansion. Her previous experience also includes assignments with the intellectual property law firm Christensen, O'Connor, Johnson & Kindness and the general practice law firm Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim. She has completed extensive course work in employment law, management training, and compensation system design.
Theresa Partlow, Senior Consultant
Theresa Partlow has a strong background including direct responsibility for policy development, recruitment and retention, employee/labor relations, compensation and benefits, and multimedia and training. During 20 years of progressive HR management for multi-site national companies, she has helped employers in all aspects of HR with particular emphasis on employer/employee relations, harassment and discrimination investigation, conflict resolution and compliance reviews. She has also worked extensively with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), dealing with wage and hour issues, compensation and benefit plan assessment, and design and project management.
Prior to joining the Washington Firm in 2007, Theresa spent eight years with Emeritus Assisted Living Company, most recently as the VP Human Resources. Previously, Theresa worked at Sun Healthcare as Human Resources Director and Virginia Mason Medical Center as Benefit Manager. For the past 10 years she has held the position of Director of Human Resources for two leading healthcare organizations, and was most recently VP of Human Resources.
