Rodney Crain is an experienced human resources leader with a career that spans 40 years in both public and private sector organizations. As a Senior Vice President with GovHR USA, he provides executive search and general management consulting for clients. He is a collaborative leader who is able to build and maintain high performance organizations and who has demonstrated skill in the areas of executive/leadership coaching, talent acquisition, succession planning and compensation. During his career, he has worked for Fortune 100 and 200 companies where he was able to learn and implement innovative strategies for increasing employee engagement and helping businesses achieve their mission and vision. Among his results were the development of staffing models that aligned with short and long-term goals, succession planning tools that assessed talent at all management levels and the utilization of change management techniques to increase success of on-going organizational changes – especially as related to mergers, acquisitions and jobs/job family designs.
Mr. Crain was able to transition to the public sector where he used those skills to re-brand the hiring process for the City of Austin into the Acquiring Talent Lifecycle. He and his team not only provided oversight and governance for the staffing and talent solutions for the City’s 40 departments, but also managed over 30 executive recruitments annually. On several occasions, he represented the City on television broadcasts and radio spots to help promote the City’s brand. Over the course of his tenure, he was also able to drive several strategic objectives, such as leading the effort to assist formerly incarcerated applicants in securing employment through delaying criminal background checks, hosting five job fairs annually at locations throughout the City to ensure access by all demographic groups, and using data analytics to target opportunities to increase the talent pool of women and minorities for City jobs.
His consulting philosophy can be summed up this way: His primary purpose is to assist in building organizational capability. This capability is necessary to sustain growth in any business, and effectively assessing talent is a key factor in that process. Therefore, he continually strives to earn the right to be a trusted advisor, so that he can be a partner in attracting and retaining the diverse talent best suited for long-term success in an organization’s environment.
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION, TRAINING & INSTRUCTION
- Master of Business Administration degree in Human Resources and Operations Management, Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellow, Washington University in St. Louis
- Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education, magna cum laude, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg
- SHRM-Senior Certified Professional, Society of Human Resource Management
- HRCI – Senior Professional in Human Resources, Human Resources Certification Institute
- California Community College Instructor, Board of Governors of the CA Community Colleges
MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
- Austin Human Resource Management Association
- National Forum for Black Public Administrators
- International City/County Management Association
- Society of Human Resource Management
- Texas Municipal Human Resources Association
AWARDS
- Travis County Sheriff’s Office Vision Award
- TMHRA, Innovation in Municipal Human Resources Management
- City of Austin Distinguished Service Award
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
- Over 35 Years of Human Resource Experience
- Talent Acquisition Manager, City of Austin (2014-2022)
- Talent Council Member, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce (2016-2022)
- Citizen’s Review Panel Member, Office of Police Oversight, City of Austin (2009-2012)
- Human Resources Director, ManpowerGroup (2009-2013)
- Human Resources Manager, ManpowerGroup (2003-2008)
- Human Resources Functional Manager, Hewlett-Packard Company (1995-2002)
- Compensation Manager, Hewlett-Packard Company (1986-1995)
