Dana Cook, HR OptIn’s Vice President of Operations and Client Services, joined us when she decided it was time to opt back into the workplace, herself. Dana has been with HR OptIn from the site’s launch.  By any measure, Dana is a most valuable member of our team.
 
Dana’s extensive background in Human Resources placement and recruiting would have opened the door to any number of HR firms, but HR OptIn’s mission to help HR professionals returning to the workforce held a special appeal for a mother of three going back to work herself. Dana was so impressed with the HR OptIn mandate to find flex and part-time work for HR professionals looking to balance family and professional life, that she decided to work with us on the inside, rather than work on the outside with clients as a consultant.
 
Before taking time out when her three children were young, Dana was Operations Manager for The Richard Michael Group, an HR generalist for Arthur Andersen, moving from that firm to Human Resources Director for Sports & Recreation, Inc.  There she oversaw the Human Resources function for over 6500 employees in 27 states. She earned a BS degree in Personnel and Employment Relations from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and graduated from the Dale Carnegie training in Effective Communications and Human Relations.  
 
The broad scope of her HR experience serves Dana well, when it comes to tracking our nationwide client base and registry of consultants. Organized and unimpeachably ethical, Dana is also a supremely gifted “matchmaker”: her strong suit is the relationship-building that results in a good client-consultant fit.  She partners with both consultant and client to meet the human resources needs of a particular business, and the skill set and work needs of the consultant. We rely on Dana’s uncanny ability to accurately analyze the needs of clients ranging from large manufacturing firms to non-profits, and to correctly assess the capacities of the more than 300 consultants registered on our site.
 
One year on, as HR OptIn’s consultant pool expands, Dana works to establish and maintain relationships, through regular contact with consultants who have profiles on our website, and as a resource for the companies who come to HR OptIn.
 
While she may not meet in person the HR professional in Denver whom she matches with the financial firm in Connecticut, it’s Dana’s ability to connect, to put a human face to the process, that makes it work.