Higher Talent: Principals

“Perspective. It’s what makes a good recruiter a great one. Having driven the search process from inside organizations as well as outside, Diane brings an uncommon view to the business of helping organizations and professionals find each other.”

DIANE CHARNESS | PRESIDENT | DC@HIGHERTALENTINC.COM

Diane Charness leads all facets of client searches — from candidate recruitment and selection to business development. With over 25 years of experience, she has cultivated expertise in a number of industries including higher education, healthcare, membership and trade associations, corporations and professional services firms. With a unique view on the search process — having worked both inside organizations at a senior level as well as on the agency side — Diane brings together skills in employee relationships, recruitment information systems and recruitment branding. She has successfully placed candidates in senior level positions ranging from executives to professional staff. Her understanding of the organizations she serves drives her implementation of recruitment structures, processes and methodologies to bring forth the best talent.

Diane brings to the Higher Talent collaborative her experience as the founder of Flextime Staffing, Inc. and as the Director, Recruitment and Staffing Services for Georgetown University. At Georgetown, she oversaw more than 600 successful executive, management and administrative level searches per year in development and fundraising, non-profit administration, information technology, finance and accounting, human resources, operations and communications. Prior to her career in the search industry, Diane worked in executive level strategic planning and marketing positions with Marriott and ITT.

Considered a national expert on the subject of human resource utilization, Diane has been featured in the nation’s leading undergraduate college management textbook, Understanding Business. In addition, she has been interviewed for articles in Working Woman, Time, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and other national publications. She is a frequent speaker and moderator of panels on the subject of life/workplace balance issues and the contingency workforce.

Diane holds the degrees of Bachelor of Science, International Economics and Politics from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University and Master’s of Business Administration from George Washington University. She is an active member of the Washington, DC community and has been elected to leadership and Board positions for prominent non-profit organizations.

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“Thorough research is at the root of the way Mindy approaches this business — the success of our process and methodology stems from understanding the needs of our clients and recruited candidates.”

MINDY SUISSA | VICE PRESIDENT | MS@HIGHERTALENTINC.COM

Mindy Suissa oversees the delivery and deployment of executive search assignments, training and client management. With more than 15 years in the executive search industry, she has managed all aspects of research, search and recruiting to identify and match diverse executive talent to senior executive positions. She has successfully recruited senior executives – nationally and internationally — for national non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education and Fortune 500 companies. In addition, she has successfully completed hundreds of search assignments, designed and developed process and methodology structures, developed new business and trained recruiters in the executive search industry.

Mindy brings a sought-after body of expertise to the Higher Talent collaborative. She has worked as an independent consultant to Georgetown University, where she completed executive search assignments focused in the fundraising and development arena, information technology and higher education administration. Prior to that, Mindy spent more than 10 years with a boutique executive search firm in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and several years with renowned executive search firms Eastman & Beaudine and Heidrick and Struggles. At these firms, she was responsible for executing full life cycle recruiting efforts across many functional areas including: technology, purchasing, human resources, marketing, communications, finance, accounting, and business development.