Meet Our Team
Dianna Wilusz / CEO
Dianna is passionate about creating transformative experiences in business and the HR profession. She brings 25 years of Human Resources Management and Operations experience, including senior global leadership roles at National Semiconductor, Vice President Operations and HR at Hara Software, Director HR at Beceem Communications, and Managing Director of HR Operations at Lam Research.
Dianna is currently a board advisor to several for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has served a number of clients across many industries and internationally in the areas of compensation, leadership development, recruiting, talent management, and human resources information systems.
Dianna believes that the capacity to create powerful change resides within each one of us, and she is committed to the exchange of best practices and the co-creation of the next generation of HR and business.
Dianna specializes in: Training & Development, Compensation & Benefits, Business Process Management, Executive Advisor & Coaching, and Holacracy Organizations.
Lisa Lewis / CFO & CMO
As Chief Financial & Marketing Officer for The Pendolino Group, Lisa is passionate about transforming traditional business into client-centric experiences.
She holds degrees in Business Management and Accounting and brings 20+ years of hands-on finance, marketing, and operations experience. She is a serial entrepreneur, successfully launching several businesses.
Lisa is committed to advancing the position and influence of small businesses on the global economy and brings creative leadership and marketing practices to all of her clients, while ensuring alignment with traditional financial and accounting practices.
Lisa specializes in: Strategic Planning & Visioning, Business Process Management, Executive Advisor and Coaching, and Millennials.
Read More About Lisa’s Background & Expertise
Neera Gunn / Performance Optimization Consultant
With 12+ years of experience, Neera brings her knowledge to the Pendolino Group with great enthusiasm! Neera has deep roots working with startups as Head of HR. She is an expert on how to build the HR function from the ground up, growing HR and scaling the organization on a global level.
She has experience in mergers & acquisitions, recruiting, HR systems implementations, employee relations, compensation & benefits, learning & development, performance management & change management.
Neera believes employee success is driven by effective coaching, feedback and recognition to empower employees and achieve results!
When not at work, Neera enjoys traveling the world with her husband, wine tasting, and trying out new recipes. Family and friends are always in for a treat when she has them over to share a meal!
Margaret Almeida / Performance Optimization Consultant
Margaret joins The Pendolino Group as a seasoned business leader with 15+ years of intensive HR experience in the technology (software, SaaS, interactive media, MEMS sensors, semiconductor devices), manufacturing, and real estate sectors. Prior to founding AHRC, she served as a high-impact HR Leader with expertise in building and directing global Human Resources in public and pre-IPO start-up and high-growth organizations.
She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Santa Clara University, and a certificate in HR Management from the University of California-Santa Cruz Extension. She is certified as a Senior-level HR Professional by both the HR Certification Institute (SPHR) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM-SCP) and completes ongoing education to maintain her certifications.
Living in the South Bay with her husband, daughter, and twin sons, Margaret enjoys spending time with her family and friends and can often be found reading, enjoying live music concerts, or volunteering.
Scott Caito / Recruiting Consultant
Scott has a sixth sense for assessing interpersonal skills. He uses his experience and instincts to recognize behavioral patterns in candidates. These pattern-based factors are the key to long term candidate compatibility as well as soft skills cultural fit.
Scott’s recruiting expertise includes CXO leadership roles as well as individual contributor placements. He is the Founding Partner at Sakonnet Systems, a San Francisco boutique search firm.
Additionally, he is a mentor at GrowthX Academy where he works with individuals looking to make a career change into Tech Sales, User Experience Design, and Growth Marketing.
He holds a B.S. from the University of Rhode Island.
Paulette Haban / Compensation and Benefits Consultant
We brought Paulette onto our team because her more than 21 years of practical, hands-on experience supports greater creativity for our clients as we design customized compensation and benefits programs. Paulette has been behind the scenes on several projects we’ve executed recently and has always flawlessly ensured that program objectives get systematically addressed and solved. Paulette’s singular role at The Pendolino Group is to help design unique compensation and benefits packages for your particular needs.
Paulette specializes in: Compensation & Benefits, Executive Advisor & Coaching, Training & Development, and Employee Engagement.
Brenda Tan / Compensation and Benefits Consultant
Brenda contributes to The Pendolino Group team as one of our compensation, benefits, Total Rewards & HRIS leaders with 18-years’ experience in creating and delivering strategically focused, results oriented compensation & benefits solutions. Areas of expertise include design, administration of executive, broad-based total rewards, mergers and acquisitions due diligence and integration.
She has global experience includes immigration, pay, short-term and long-term incentive equity program design and a proven record of success leading small but impactful team of 10 employees, streaming lining business processes and managing multiple projects on time and below budget in the technology and biotechnology industries.
Brenda is a certified Foresight Practitioner with the Institute for the Future, Certified Compensation Professional, Certified Executive Compensation Professional and Certified Equity Professional.
Florence Richard / HR Consultant
As a member of The Pendolino Group team, Florence, SPHR, SHRM-SCP brings more than 20 years of human resources experience in the financial industry and nonprofit arena. She served as Director of Human Resources at Aperio Group, a fintech-oriented quantitative investment management firm. Before Aperio Group, she served as the HR Director at an elite private school in San Francisco. Florence also worked for several years in venture capital. A driven and resourceful strategic thinker, she brings strong experience in all facets of HR within corporate, start-up, and nonprofit arenas. She is a collaborative and effective relationship builder who endeavors to foster an environment of trust and credibility. Florence possesses a strong track record in the implementation of HR systems, technology, and program innovations, leading to efficiencies in managing scale and improving productivity.
Highlights
- Bachelor’s degree in business from the Sorbonne University in Paris
- SPHR® certification with the HR Certification Institute
- SHRM Senior certification (SHRM-SCP®)
- ADP Payroll certification
- Experience managing hundreds of permanent residents and J-1 and H-1B visa applications for teaching and tech positions
- Payroll and benefits expertise
Technical Expertise
Microsoft Office, Outlook, Google Suite, QuickBooks, Blackbaud, Financial Edge, ADP EZ Labor, ADP Workforce Now, Paylocity, BambooHR, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Salesforce, EaseCentral, Clicktime,Workday (Human Capital Management) and Paycom.
Kimberly Hiler / Implementation and Training Consultant
Kimberly has more than 15 years of human resources and consulting experience for global high-tech companies in the financial, travel, and professional services industries. She’s an expert when it comes to benefits, compensation, employee programs, employee relations, recruiting, and talent management — and not just within the US; Kimberly has also serviced clients in the UK, Germany, and India. She is well-versed in business analysis and project management; skilled in research, business, and financial analysis; has excellent written and verbal communication skills; is a master of organization; and loves working with multi-cultural teams in detailed work environments. Her attention to detail and her ability to conform to any project culture makes Kimberly a valuable asset to The Pendolino Group and our clients.
Kim specializes in: Performance Management, Project Management, HR System Design, System Implementation, and HR Services.
Lemyr C. / CSB Configuration Consultant
Lemyr is a CSB guru with over 13 years of HR system configuration experience. We consider her a stealth and efficient team member who quietly sets new bars for performance that our whole team aspires to. From behind the scenes, Lemyr makes us all look good at The Pendolino Group. She brings world-class expertise to system configuration and is instrumental in providing our clients with the best Sonar6 implementation and re-design experiences available.
Lemyr specializes in: Performance Management, HR System Design, Business Process Improvement, System Implementation, and Millennials.
Ruby White / Implementation and Training Consultant
Ruby has more than 12 years of human resource experience in industries ranging from high-tech to mass media and communications to distribution and logistics. Her career diversity not only extends to industry type, but also to company size and age. In her work with start-ups, Ruby has doubled staff size and increased global presence. With established companies, she has helped enact programs and optimize talent solutions.
Ruby has expertise with building all facets of HR from the ground up, including talent acquisition and management, with a penchant for compensation, immigration, and mergers, as well as acquisition, and aggressive global expansion efforts.
Ruby specializes in: Performance Management, Training & Development, Employee Engagement, HR Systems Implementation, and Millennials.
Renae Rodrigues / HR Consultant
Renae joins the Pendolino Group as a seasoned HR professional with 30 years of extensive HR generalist experience in the Workforce Solutions industry. Renae has worked with sales and operational groups consulting with organizations in Retail, Technology, Science, Engineering, Manufacturing and Finance industries. She has experience in mergers and acquisitions, strategic workplace planning, wage and hour, learning and development, leadership development and employee relations.
Renae has a passion for assisting clients in the areas of employee development, talent management, change management, and navigating employer obligations through California’s diverse and unique employment laws.
Renae earned her B.A. degree in Psychology from California State University, Fresno and her M.S. degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from San Francisco State University.
Renae lives in the East Bay with her husband and daughters. She has a passion for Siamese cats, SF Giants, wine tasting and spending time with her family and friends in the Sierra Mountains.
Diane Lam / Client Solutions
Diane has been the right-hand to entrepreneurs and C-level executives for over 14 years managing everything from the creation of 5 separate hedge funds to overseeing multiple business lines and executing infrastructure initiatives, all while hiring teams and creating systems and processes to support these initiatives. Her superpower is taking an idea and bringing it to fruition.
