Julie's Bio

Julie Magnuson is the founding member of SDRR, and has held the position of SDRR Chairperson since the group was founded in 1998.

Mrs. Magnuson is President of Magnuson Enterprises Ltd, which owns and operates SDRR and Magnuson Consulting. Mrs. Magnuson has over 12 years of experience in Human Resources, and has operated a successful HR Consulting practice in San Diego since 2001. Mrs. Magnuson's experience has mostly been in High Tech and Biotech. In addition to supporting clients directly in a HR Management capacity, Mrs. Magnuson has also been an HR Consultant for 7 years with Alcock & McFadden Employment Consultants reporting to Mary Alcock, President. Prior to consulting, Mrs. Magnuson was Director of Human Resources for a 2500 person employer in Poway.

Mona's Bio

Mona M. Melanson, SPHR started Aviso HR Associates, LLC after working in corporate human resources management in a number of different industries in the U.S. and overseas for over 20 years. Aviso HR specializes in providing an array of talent management and organizational change management services that achieve results and are tailored to the critical business needs of its clients. During its inaugural year, Mona completed HR projects for organizations such as SKF Condition Monitoring Inc., a small nutraceutical company, a construction services firm, and the City of Carlsbad.

Mona Melanson earned her B.A. from George Washington University in Washington D.C. and her M.A. from Kean University in New Jersey. In 1998, Mona achieved Lifetime Certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).

In addition to serving on the SDRR board, Mona is a board member of the ASTD San Diego chapter serving as Programs Director. In the past, she was a board member of San Diego SHRM. Mona has been a speaker or panelist on a variety of HR and related topics for various local and national groups. Four of her career development articles were published by the Wall Street Journal's National Business Employment Weekly. For more information, please go to: www.avisohr.com

Simon's Bio

Simon Meth is based in San Diego, California and works often as a full-cycle corporate recruiter. He incorporates all facets of the recruitment process including recruiting, identifying, behavioral or competency based interviewing, selecting, and hiring the best-and-brightest candidates for his clients. These people make a difference each-and-every day. Simon works also with individuals as a career counselor, leveraging his deep knowledge of how corporate staffing really works to enhance his clients' job search effectiveness.

Simon was educated at The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia where he earned a B.S. (Honors) degree in Physical Geography. He is a Certified Independent Trainer for Competency Based Interviewing®. SittingXlegged is his blog about Corporate Recruitment: what works and what doesn't plus other musings.

Simon was an early adopter of social media. He joined LinkedIn in April, 2004 and is currently active with twitter and facebook. He keeps his eye on newer social media sites and technologies but is yet to find a new contender to challenge the Big 3.

David's Bio

David is the Recruiting Manager for Kisco Senior Living and is based at their home office in Carlsbad. He focuses on recruiting senior level exempt positions and on Kisco's recruiting process throughout the United States.

Prior to Kisco, David was a founding Partner and Vice President of Sales and Recruiting at Integrity Placements, LLC where he consulted with multiple global organizations throughout the United States on large scale staffing projects and provided both system and people placement solutions.

David previously held a Team Manager position at a global staffing company where he was responsible for the San Diego region providing staffing services and solutions to a wide range of clients in Southern California.

David is originally from England and came to the United States in 2003.

Eric's Bio

Before beginning his 12 year career as a Recruiter, Mr. Van Gilder worked as a Network Administrator and IT Consultant specializing in Network design. Mr. Van Gilder has a true passion for his work and partners directly with hiring and Human Resource managers to deliver results. He has strong negotiation skills, the ability to handle difficult search assignments while meeting the very highest management criteria. Mr. Van Gilder uses a variety of conventional and creative recruiting methods to maximize ROI, increase efficiency and produce results fast while handling competing priorities.

Mr. Van Gilder uses his good instinct for the business, believes in continual improvement and integrity and strives for excellence. Mr. Van Gilder uses direct recruiting methods to find passive candidates and a deep understanding of technical departments to successfully place candidates. Mr. Van Gilder has successfully staffed a variety of industries including Software Development and IT, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Medical Device, and Department of Defense for positions ranging from Tech Support and Engineering to Executive Management.

Mr. Van Gilder was educated at the University of Delaware College of Business and took classes at San Diego State University in Information and Decision Systems. Outside of work Mr. Van Gilder enjoys mountain biking, running, racquetball and circuit training and supports the Barras Foundation and Toys for Tots charities. Mr. Van Gilder has received awards such as Most Outstanding Musician (trumpet) and Most Outstanding Athlete (Baseball).

LEE's Bio

LEE Sharp has been active in the Human Capital & Talent Management segments here in California for over 20 years. LEE currently supports a global Advanced Systems Development Business within SAIC, working with management to support recruiting, retention and redeployment strategies across numerous commercial and classified programs.

LEE has been active in our San Diego markets and has participated in key staffing efforts in both the corporate and agency platforms with clients including Microsoft, Cricket, ATT, and numerous other interesting projects as well as VC funded startups.

His contributions within Talent Management are reinforced by his broad high-tech management roles and experiences across multiple market segments ranging from Software Development, Telecommunications, as well as Hybrid Automotive and Defense markets.

LEE has also served as a senior Sales and Marketing Executive within Software firms and Robotic Automation firms as well as numerous International roles for Computer firms in both the UK, Germany and Japan.

As a graduate of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, LEE holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations Research and Management and continues his HR education on the SPHR track within SHRM. He is an avid supporter of the new social media tools that are coming to market to affect how the new Staffing Model will drive competitive strategies. He actively participates in local Career Transition programs as well as selected local University Intern Programs including the National STEM program focusing on educating today's youth here in San Diego.

Leigh's Bio

Leigh Trujillo currently serves as the Manager, Human Resources for SOLUTE Consulting, an engineering and consulting services contractor for the defense industry. She has over 25 years experience in personnel, organizational and program management.

Prior to joining SOLUTE Consulting, Ms. Trujillo served in a variety of management positions with Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. and Sales Warrior, Inc. Prior to her corporate career, she served for over 20 years in the United States Navy achieving the rank of Master Chief. While in the military she held a variety of positions including leading the personal office staffs for the Chief of Naval Operations and the Commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet. During her military career Ms. Trujillo traveled extensively throughout the world and is an experienced protocol professional having interfaced with numerous officials and foreign dignitaries. Ms. Trujullo was also the first female assigned to an operational Naval Patrol Aircraft Squadron.

Ms. Trujillo holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration. She is an active member of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA), Women in Defense (WID) and the San Diego USO.

Erick's Bio

Erick Magnuson joined SDRR in 2001 as CTO, when SDRR first launched its initial website. Mr. Magnuson has managed and created all of SDRR's technical presence and continues to be responsible for the creative and technical direction of the website.

Mr. Magnuson is also a Sr. Programmer Analyst at UCSD Facilities Design and Construction and has over 10 years of IT Design, management and programming experience. Mr. Magnuson also provides IT Consulting services to small employers in San Diego. Prior to joining UCSD FDC 6 years ago, Mr. Magnuson worked in the High Tech industry with several start ups to develop their IT infrastructure.

Joe's Bio

Mr. Parker has more than 15 years of experience in complex commercial, real estate, and labor and employment litigation and counseling. He has substantial trial and arbitration experience, including alternative dispute resolution forums. Mr. Parker’s litigation experience covers a wide range, including business torts, land use/environmental actions, corporate partnership/LLC litigation, and defense of employment-related suits.

Mr. Parker’s land use/environmental practice encompasses all aspects of permitting and regulatory proceedings, with an emphasis in the wireless infrastructure industry. He has substantial experience with CERCLA cost recovery litigation, defense of PRP groups at Superfund sites, and negotiation/litigation of land use disputes, including CEQA actions. His practice includes administrative proceedings, general compliance counseling, and negotiation of remediation actions. Mr. Parker also has extensive experience litigating individual and class action claims brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act relating to accessibility requirements. His work in this area includes counseling owners/operators of public accommodations, including the formulation of internal accessibility audits and barrier removal programs.

Mr. Parker’s labor and employment practice encompasses all aspects of employment law, with special emphasis in state and federal court proceedings and employer counseling. He regularly counsels employers on management of internal investigations, preventive personnel practices and administration of employment policies and regulations. Mr. Parker also prepares employment agreements, personnel handbooks, and confidentiality agreements. He has considerable experience in matters relating to temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, as well as in hearings before EEOC, DFEH, OSHA, and the California Labor Commissioner.

Mr. Parker representative experience includes both large and small companies engaged in telecommunications, hospitality, manufacturing, oil refining, hazardous and solid waste management and disposal, and high technology.