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About Us

Who we are

We are a professional development company that provides data, research, insights, and certification to Learning, Talent, and HR executives and organizations. We’ve been operating for 30 years and influenced the development of over 10 million employees and executives. We offer a cloud-based platform that provides evidence-based insights in various areas of Human Capital Management. The company is recognized for its HCM Excellence Awards®, known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management”.

Learn more about our services:

Research and Advisory

Excellence Awards

Professional Development

HCM Excellence Conference

OnDemand Webinars

Solution Provider Offerings
When it comes to Human Capital Management, one size does not fit all. We produce three pieces of HCM content everyday, in a variety of formats, but how we apply those insights is up to you.

Our Vision

Inspiring a Better Workplace Experience

Our Mission

Empower excellence in organizations around the world through our research and tools each and every day

Our Core Values

We are dedicated to several core values to meet the needs of our clients and members:

  • Commitment: Provide exceptional service. Our success comes from your success. Our business rests on delivering to you an unparalleled level of service.
  • Quality: Perform with integrity. From client relationships to our proprietary research methods, our employees conduct themselves professionally and dedicate themselves to providing services and research you can depend on for critical decisions.
  • Candor: Act with your best interests. We are committed to providing you unbiased, direct, and honest feedback at all times.
  • Client Driven: Our clients are an important source of knowledge and information for our firm. The contribution of one client is leveraged to its full potential to help all our clients. Our clients mean everything to us.
  • Giving Back to our Community: We give back to the communities in which we do business. We donate time, money, and services to worthy charities and non-profit organizations every year.

Our Core Values

We are dedicated to several core values to meet the needs of our clients and members:

Commitment

Provide exceptional service. Our success comes from your success. Our business rests on delivering to you an unparalleled level of service.

Quality

Perform with integrity. From client relationships to our proprietary research methods, our employees conduct themselves professionally and dedicate themselves to providing services and research you can depend on for critical decisions.

Candor

Act with your best interests. We are committed to providing you unbiased, direct, and honest feedback at all times.

Client Driven

Our clients are an important source of knowledge and information for our firm. The contribution of one client is leveraged to its full potential to help all our clients. Our clients mean everything to us.

Giving Back to our Community

We give back to the communities in which we do business. We donate time, money, and services to worthy charities and non-profit organizations every year.

Leadership Team

Mike Cooke

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Analyst

Rachel Cooke

Chief Operating Officer and Principal Analyst

Michael Rochelle

Chief Strategy Officer and Principal Analyst

Research & Advisory Team

David Forry

Senior Vice President

Roberta Gogos

Principal Analyst and VP

Alan Mellish

Principal Analyst

Matt Pittman

Principal Analyst
Claude Werder

Claude Werder

Senior Vice President and Principal Analyst

Brandon Hall Group

Cathy Cause

Ryan Emboy

Ivy Etchison

Pat Fitzgerald

Geraldine Fajardo

Charles Lord

Rachit Malhotra

Javier Perez

Sam Roehm

Shea Salvato

Stephen Schneider

Lorie Watson

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Recognizing, Empowering, and Certifying HCM Excellence around the world since 1993. Our research, data, and insights fuel the best minds in Human Capital Management to help them create future-proof learning, talent, and HR strategy for the new era of work.

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Mike Cooke

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Analyst

Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Mike was the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of AC Growth. Mike held leadership and executive positions for the majority of his career, responsible for steering sales and marketing teams to drive results and profitability. His background includes more than 15 years of experience in sales and marketing, management, and operations in the research, consulting, software and technology industries. Mike has extensive experience in sales, marketing and management, having worked for several early high-growth emerging businesses and has implemented technology systems to support various critical sales, finance, marketing and client service functions. He is especially skilled in organizing the sales and service strategy to fully support a company’s growth strategy. The concept of growth was an absolute to Mike and a motivator in starting AC Growth, in order to help organizations achieve research-driven results.

 

Before co-founding AC Growth, Mike was the VP and General Manager of Field Operations at Bersin & Associates, a global analyst and consulting services firm focused on all areas of enterprise learning, talent management and talent acquisition. Tasked with leading the company’s global expansion, Mike led all sales operations worldwide. During Mike’s tenure, the company grew into a multi-national firm, conducting business in over 45 countries with over 4,500 multi-national organizations.

 

Mike started his career at MicroVideo Learning Systems in 1992, eventually holding a senior management position and leading all corporate sales before founding Dynamic Minds. Mike was CEO and Co-Founder of Dynamic Minds, a custom developer of software programs, working with clients like Goldman Sachs, Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill and Merrill Lynch. Also, Mike worked for Oddcast, a leading provider of customer experience and marketing solutions, where he held a senior management position leading the company into new markets across various industries.

Rachel Cooke

COO and Principal Analyst

Rachel Cooke is the Chief Operating Officer at Brandon Hall Group and Principal Analyst. Rachel is responsible for business operations, including client and member advisory services, marketing design, annual awards program, conferences, and overall accountability for the company’s project management function.  Also, she leads initiatives covering Advancing Women in the Workplace and Diversity and Inclusion research and events.  Rachel has worked in the HCM research industry for fifteen years and has held several key management and executive positions within Talent and Learning Research and Performance Improvement Industries.

Rachel received a BA in social science and interdisciplinary studies with honors from Florida Atlantic University. Rachel continued her postgraduate education by completing a series of executive management education courses from American Management Association.

Michael Rochelle

CSO and Principal Analyst

Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Michael was the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder at AC Growth. Michael serves in a variety of roles including overseeing research and advisory support for organizations and solution providers.   Michael is one of the company’s principal analysts covering learning and development, talent management, leadership development, HR, talent acquisition and DEI. 

 

Michael brings nearly 40 years’ experience in executive leadership roles, including human resources, information technologies, sales, marketing, business development, M&A, strategic and financial planning, program management and business operations in a wide variety of organizational settings.  

 

Michael is a graduate of the following certification programs: Kirkpatrick Four Levels™ Evaluation, Balanced Scorecard Collaborative and Strategy Focused Organization and Office of Strategic Management.

David Forry

David Forry is a Senior Vice President at Brandon Hall Group, with a rich background in Human Capital Management since 2010. During his seven years with the company, he has been instrumental in shaping sales and marketing strategies, driving growth, and nurturing key client relationships. Based in Boca Raton, David finds his greatest fulfillment in family life, residing happily with his wife and three daughters. He is known for his dedication to excellence, innovative thinking, and passion for empowering organizations in the ever-evolving landscape of Human Capital Management.

Roberta Gogos

Principal Analyst and VP

Roberta Gogos has 15 years in the HR and learning tech space. She has been on the consultancy side, agency side, and has held CMO roles on the vendor side. She specializes in brand, position, and developing marketing strategies that build market share and profitability.

Roberta joined Brandon Hall Group as a Principal Analyst and VP of Agency! – Brandon Hall’s latest innovation to help Solution Providers transition from theory to execution to accelerate their marketing and grow!

Alan Mellish

Alan Mellish has spent the past 14 years serving the HCM community as an industry analyst and marketing strategist. Alan has run industry conferences, built original research, and worked in agencies to build HR tech brands.

 

As a Principal Analyst for Brandon Hall Group, Alan draws on his experience to raise the bar for HCM expertise and build market share for top tier HR solutions providers.

 

Matt Pittman

Principal Analyst

Matt Pittman brings nearly 30 years of experience developing people and teams in a variety of settings and organizations. As an HR Practitioner, he has sat in nearly every seat including Learning and Leadership Development, Talent Management and Succession Planning, Talent Acquisition and as a Human Resources Business Partner. A significant part of those roles involved building out functions in organizations and driving large scale change efforts. As a Principal Analyst, Matt leverages this in-depth experience and expertise to provide clients and providers with breakthrough insights and ideas to drive their business forward.

Claude Werder

Senior Vice President and Principal Analyst

Claude Werder runs Brandon Hall Group’s Talent Management, Leadership Development and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) practices. His specific areas of focus include how organizations must transform culturally and strategically to meet the needs of the emerging workforce and workplace.

Claude develops insights and solutions on employee experience, leadership, coaching, talent development, assessments, culture, DE&I, and other topics to help members and clients make talent development a competitive business advantage now and in the evolving future of work.

Before joining Brandon Hall Group in 2012, Claude was an HR consultant and also spent more than 25 years as an executive and people leader for media and news organizations. This included a decade as the producer of the HR Technology Conference and Expo. He helped transform it from a small event to the world’s largest HR technology conference.

Claude is a judge for the global Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards and Excellence in Technology Awards, contributes to the company’s HCM certification programs, and produces the firm’s annual HCM Excellence Conference. He is also a certified executive and leadership coach. He lives in Boynton Beach, FL.
Claude Werder

Cathy Cause

Ryan Emboy

Ivy Etchison

Introducing Ivy Etchison, a dedicated Research and Operations Associate at Brandon Hall Group. With a passion for acknowledging outstanding work and making a meaningful impact in the professional world, Ivy takes great pride in supporting the company’s awards programs. She finds it incredibly rewarding to celebrate people’s achievements and inspire others to strive for excellence.

 

As a lifelong Florida resident, Ivy is currently pursuing her business degree at Palm Beach State College. She is committed to learning as much as possible in a work environment that values innovation, hard work, and exceptional contributions. Ivy thrives in collaborative settings where everyone feels encouraged to share their ideas, and she is always eager to be part of projects that challenge her and contribute to the success of the entire team.

Outside of work and studies, Ivy recharges by visiting America’s national parks. These adventures fuel her creativity and bring new insights to her professional life.

 

With her dedication, enthusiasm, and strong work ethic, Ivy is poised to make a lasting impact in her career and beyond. She looks forward to the opportunities that lie ahead and is excited to continue growing both personally and professionally.

 

Pat Fitzgerald

Pat Fitzgerald ([email protected]) is Content and Community Coordinator at Brandon Hall Group™. Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group™, he was an award-winning community journalist for 30 years and recognized for his writing, investigative reporting, editing, photography design and community service. He also started and then sold his own successful weekly newspaper in the Branson, Mo., area.

pat fitzgerald

Geraldine Fajardo

Geraldine Fajardo is an Art Director who has 8 years of working experience in the design industry. Ger has led her own design team, worked on numerous successful pitches and campaigns, and collaborated with production teams for photoshoots and video projects. She specializes in branding, illustration, motion graphics, and photography.
 
As a Graphic Designer at Brandon Hall Group, she handles all design-related tasks. She conceptualizes and develops digital and print designs from presentations, certifications, courses, infographics, event collaterals, and social media posts.

Charles Lord

Rachit Malhotra

Rachit brings over a decade of cross-industry and cross-culture experience to his role as Director of Client Strategy at Brandon Hall Group.

With a professional background that spans three continents in industries ranging from HCM tech to educational enterprise sales, Rachit has honed the ability to deeply understand his clients’ needs and craft innovative solutions tailored to them.

Rachit is fluent in English, Spanish, and Hindi. He divides his time between two homes, the west coast of the United States, and southern Chile. In his free time, he likes to go running, watch just about any sport that’s playing, and cook for movie night with his wife.

Javier Perez

Born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico on August 23, 1976. Attended high school in Puerto Rico and graduated with honors and top of the class. I was 4 sport all star and received a full baseball college scholarship to play in the United States and major in Finance and Economics. Played professionally and decided to retire to continue my career in business. I built 3 start up companies and sold them within 2 years. I combined my expertise and efforts to consult for large corporations and be an instrumental factor on their future. 

Have been in many industries including: recruitment, marketing, sales, advertising, sports nutrition and now human capital management. Have been in senior level positions as high as VP of one of the largest sports nutrition companies in the world. My track record has been impecable, overseeing sales budgets of over $500M per year as well as managing well over 100 sales person teams. 

I am a father of 5 amazing kids ranging from 27 to 4 years old as well as step father to a 7 year old. I’m currently engaged to my fiancé Carli and we are owners of 2 amazing pups. My goal has always been to strive for greatness, show passion for my craft and above all, outstanding work ethic. I believe Brandon Hall Group has enabled me to accomplished all those goals and look forward to a very prosperous future with our organization.

Sam Roehm

Shea Salvato

Shea Salvato is a Marketing and Media Specialist at Brandon Hall Group. Shea holds marketing and social media certifications, working to stay at the forefront of industry trends and practices. In her current position, she manages diverse responsibilities. Shea oversees social media strategies, contributes to marketing, helps coordinate event logistics, and manages the Excellence at Work podcast series. Shea approaches her career with determination to embrace each day as an opportunity to learn and grow. Her ultimate goal is to gain as much experience as possible early in her career. Outside of the office, Shea enjoys playing golf near her home in Boca Raton, Florida. She takes every opportunity to get out on the course and work on improving her game.

Stephen Schneider

Lorie Watson

Lorie Watson is the Director of Client Services at Brandon Hall Group, a position she has held since 2013. In this role, Lorie is dedicated to providing excellent customer service to the members and clients of Brandon Hall Group.

 

Lorie draws on her past professional experience as she serves the Brandon Hall Group team and community. She worked as a Paralegal for 28 years prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, cultivating a strong skill set in areas like organization, communication, and relationship-building.

 

In her 9 years at Brandon Hall Group so far, Lorie has served in various roles within the Client Services department. Her institutional knowledge and passion for delivering an exceptional client experience have made Lorie an invaluable member of the team.

 

Going forward, Lorie aims to continue elevating the standard of service at Brandon Hall Group. She enjoys forming meaningful connections with clients and team members alike. Lorie sees every interaction as an opportunity to make a positive impact through her dedication and care.

 

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