Donna Renella

President of ABW
Solutions, LLC.
New York, New York

Contact Information
Phone: (212) 551-1737
Email:

DRenella@donnarenella.com
Website:
http://donnarenella.com

Brian

Batchelder
Vice President, Recruiting
at Weber Shandwick

Donna is currently the President of ABW Solutions,

LLC, a recruitment and consulting firm. Previously, Donna
spent over ten years in senior-level human resources roles
with public relations agencies including Hill &
Knowlton/wpp
and
Constituency
Management
Group/Interpublic Agencies. While Senior Managing
Director for Hill & Knowlton, she built the first global inhouse public relations recruitment role. At IPG, she was
the head of talent overseeing a staff recruiting for public
relations/public affairs industry leaders including Weber
Shandwick, GolinHarris, Powell Tate and Octagon.
Beforehand with Airborne Express (now DHL Worldwide)
as
head
of
field
human
resources
operations/communications, she and her team were
featured in a front-page Wall Street Journal article on
recruitment in an urban environment.
Earlier in her career as an entrepreneur and
consultant, Donna was a founding partner in market
leader OHare & Associates, a professional recruitment
firm specializing in advertising and marketing. Her public
relations
industry
accomplishments
include
an
appointment as the Chair of the HR Roundtable and
Diversity Chair for the Council of Public Relations Firms.
On behalf of the Council of Public Relations Firms, Donna
created and leads an annual trade association recruitment
job fair at Howard Universitys School of Communications,
the only one of its kind. Donna graduated from Hunter
College with a B.A. and M.A. in Economics. She serves on
the Board for the Mental Health Association of
Westchester County and the Advisory Board for the
Graduate
School
for
Branding
and
Integrated
Communications at CCNY. A Bronx native, Donna now
resides in Westchester County, NY.

Brian Batchelder is a
VP,
Recruiting
for
Weber
Shandwick
and
leads
the
recruiting function for several
offices in the U.S. and Canada
as well as two IPG sister
agencies

KRC
Research
(market research) and The Axis
Agency
(multicultural
advertising). Brian has more
than 10 years of recruiting
experience in the PR/marketing
industries and has worked for
two of the three largest, global
PR firms. He is a graduate of
the S.I. Newhouse School of
Public
Communications
at
Syracuse University (Broadcast
Journalism). Go Orange!

Email: Jessica.bayer@mslgroup.com

Karla Wagner
Senior Vice President Human Resources at
Grayling

Jessica Bayer
Vice President, North
America Talent Acquisition
MSLGROUP and Kekst &
Co.

Contact Information:
Office: (202) 683
3215
Jessica Bayer is a vice president, leading North
America talent acquisition, at MSLGROUP and Kekst &

Company. In this role, she leads

strategic plans to recruit the
industrys best talent and to
enhance current and future
client teams. Bayer has built
her
reputation
in
the
communications industry and
strong relationships with the
industrys
leaders.
She
possesses
a
demonstrated
ability to use recruitment as a
catalyst for resolving critical
business issues. Additionally,
Bayer successfully partners
with internal stakeholders to
ensure recruitment strategies
are in alignment with the
overall business strategy. As a
recognized recruiter in the
communications
industry,
Bayer regularly speaks at
universities and on panels.
Before
joining
MSLGROUP, Bayer spent three
years as a senior recruiter for
Burson-Marstellers
Washington, D.C. headquarters.
Bayer
also
managed
recruitment for a number of
smaller offices and led strategic
senior talent searches across
the country. At Burson, Bayer
was recognized for shortening
hiring
cycles,
significantly
improving
the
volume
of
qualified
candidates
and
increasing diversity. She also
managed
the
internship
programs in D.C., Pittsburgh
and Dallas, and built strong
relationships with universities
and colleges on the East coast.

Karla Wagner is the Senior Vice President of

Human Resources at Grayling. With nearly 20 years
Human Resources experience with some of the most
respected brands in retail: Home Depot, Movado and NetA-Porter. In June 2015, Karla joined Grayling and is
responsible for the U.S. Human Resource function. As
Grayling's Chief Human Resource Officer, Karla is helping
to accelerate Graylings transformation by creating
advantage for our clients, employees and leadership by
attracting and developing the best talent and building a
culture of engagement, accountability and innovation.

Bayer also spent three

years at Corporate Executive
Board
(CEB)
where
she
managed
high
volume
recruitment of the member
services staff, hiring more than
100 employees. She began her
career at CEB as a sales
associate.
Bayer
earned
her
bachelors degree in public
relations, with a minor in
business administration, from
Louisiana State University.

Alan Weatherbee
President, Weatherbee Talent Group

Contact Information
Phone: (949) 264 6862
Email:

alan@weatherbeetalent.com

Website:
www.weatherbeetalent.com

Alan serves as principal

recruiter
and
leader
of
Weatherbee Talent Group. He
delivers full-cycle executive
recruitment services with a
contemporary
approach.
Leveraging over twelve years of
recruiting excellence and a
niche understanding of the
public relations and marketing
fields, he prides himself on
identifying
game-changing
talent
for
winning
organizations.
Prior
to
founding
Weatherbee Talent Group, Alan

served as Senior Vice President of Talent Search for the

global
PR
and
strategic
communications
firm,
Allison+Partners. In this position, he was responsible for
agency-wide talent acquisition, headhunting in all US and
foreign markets successfully. Sitting in Orange County,
CA, Alan nimbly added talent with evolved digital marcom
capabilities as well as general PR practitioners and
leaders. He was the first handshake of the agency and
delivered key talent into the organization during an
exciting time in the agencys evolution.
Previously, Alan was Vice President of Human
Resources at the highly regarded PR agency Cone
Communications in Boston, MA. In this role, he led both
the recruitment and HR functions and nearly doubled
agency headcount while maintaining a culture focused on
career development, recognition, and collaboration. This
was a formative role and one in which he served as an HR
business partner to the firm, interfacing with top agency
leadership to drive the strategic vision of the organization
from a talent perspective.
He began his career in the PR agency business as
Director of Recruitment in Southern California for
esteemed public relations and strategic marketing firms
Golin, Weber Shandwick, and Rogers & Cowan. For nearly
four years, he headed talent acquisition for these growing
firms at a time when social media was emerging and
digital skills sets became formalized within the business.
As a passionate and HR-focused headhunter, Alan helped
to craft the first digital job specifications at all levels for
the agencies he represented.
Alans passion for headhunting took root when he
landed at AppleOne employment services in Beverly Hills,
CA where he represented professionals for career
opportunities within a variety of industries including
entertainment, marketing, and PR. He quickly emerged as
a leader within the organization and was promoted to
Branch Manager of the Glendale, CA office where he
serviced a stable of growing organizations and led a team
of ten recruiting professionals.
He began his career in the entertainment
industry, working as a talent agent assistant and junior
talent agent at Don Buchwald & Associates and Writers &
Artists Agency (acquired by Paradigm Talent Agency)
where he focused on coordinating deals between actors
and production companies. Through this work, he found
his love for career guidance and for client service.
Alan earned his Bachelors Degree in Political
Science
from
George
Washington
University
in
Washington, DC in 1999 and was a founding member of
the GWU Ice Hockey Club Team. He also attended
University of California, Los Angeles for their Human
Resources Management extension program.
Alan is proud to service the innovative industries
and talented professionals he does and is passionate
about driving the success of Weatherbee Talent Group.