Lisa Van Ess
VP, People & Culture, Magic Hat Consulting
Lisa is a dynamic human resources executive with a successful track record of developing and driving business performance through the acquisition, engagement, development and leadership of talented employees with significant experience leading global and regional HR and recruiting teams.
She started her HR career in pharmaceutical recruiting, managed the recruiting teams for regional divisions of Entex Information Services and GE Capital Information Technology Solutions, led the outsourced recruiting and HR operation for a local recruiting/HR consulting firm, and held the positions of Workforce Development Program Director and VP of HR – Global Operations for SEI, and Business Leader, VP of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) at the CBI Group, VP/Managing Director – HR & Training Solutions at Full Circle, and NIIT Technologies Limited as Client Partner and Coaching Leader at SEI Investments prior to joining Navigate Corporation as Director of People. Lisa has managed local, regional and global HR, training and recruiting teams consisting of up to 21 direct reports and supporting organizations of up to 2,500 employees. She has designed and executed professional, supervisory and leadership training programs for domestic and global teams over the past 10 years, and has designed and administered behavioral and 360 assessments to support the career growth of high potential employees and leaders.
As a certified Coach and Facilitator, she has customized highly effective programs to align employee development to business objectives. As a public speaker, she often addresses employers, job seekers and HR professionals on a variety of topics throughout different organizations and networking groups in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Prior to entering into a career in HR, she was a scientist at Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals.
She graduated The State College of New Jersey (formerly known as Trenton State College) with a BS in Biology and concentrated studies in Fine Art and holds certifications in Coaching, Employment Investigations, Predictive Index and ITIL Project and Service Lifecycle Management. Lisa is an Advisory Board Member for several Chester County, PA Economic and Workforce Development initiatives and is the recipient of the 2014 HireOne Volunteer of the Year Award. She firmly believes in making the world a better place one great employee at time!