Meet the Team
At Executive Dynamics, we bring decades of experience in various industries as well as in recruiting. Our executive recruiters have successfully placed candidates in top corporations and are highly qualified at consulting with both candidates and clients for their particular needs. We place great importance on personal contact, individual attention, and fostering a long-lasting relationship.
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Rick Leon
Rick Leon is the founding partner for Executive Dynamics Search, Inc. His company is devoted to matching great talent will great companies. Rick has run his business with a simple axiom that “we don’t represent people we personally wouldn’t hire and we don’t represent people we wouldn’t work for ourselves.” The company performs searches from Vice President/General Managers to mid-level sales and marketing talent, in addition to conducting a host of recruiting and consulting services on an on-going basis. Executive Dynamics has used a vertical model to staff some of the most prominent companies in Consumer Package Goods, Sporting Goods, and Entertainment. The vertical relationship means we place the Senior Management team on the retained basis and then build the infrastructure underneath these key leaders on a contingent basis for our clients. Some of these clients include: Coca-Cola, Reebok, Vivendi Universal, H.J. Heinz, Time-Warner, Miller-Coors, Energizer, Wrigley, Ghirardelli Chocolate, The Clorox Company, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade.
Rick essentially grew up in the CPG industry. He started sorting out deposit pop bottles at 12 years old and progressed to managing a night crew (Midnight to 9AM) throughout college in the Grocery industry. He paid for 100% of his college expenses and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Management and Marketing. Rick was involved in several leadership experiences at Cal Poly Society for Advancement of Management and the Marketing Association. He has also served on the business school’s Advisory Council.
Upon graduating from Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Business Management, Rick began his career with Procter & Gamble and quickly progressed through the organization into management. As the first person P&G hired out of Cal Poly, Rick was instrumental in beginning a recruiting program that was very successful. The University hired twenty-eight people in a three-year period, which ranked Cal Poly second only to Duke University in terms of total hires. As a result of this program, P&G endowed the University.
At P&G Rick was able to attain a number of high profile customer and marketing achievements within the Paper Products Division. He also led his division in promoting people to management roles.
In 1984 Rick left to manage the Western Region for Schering-Plough where he had to upgrade his entire management team. Results came quickly as his team successfully launched a number of new products and expanded the distribution of Coppertone Suntan products and Health Care brands.
In December of 1985 Rick was recruited into Frito-Lay as a Trade Division Manager, where he managed a team of major accounts in California and had responsibility for 400 people. Again, he developed a highly successful college-recruiting program at Cal Poly that resulted in a number of hires who have moved into significant roles at Frito-Lay. And once again, Rick’s organization quickly improved. They moved from last in the U.S. to first in terms of sales/profit increases in a period of six months.
Rick is proud of the life long friendships and relationships he has built with his co-workers from all three companies. He has been married to his “bride” Annie for 27 years and has three terrific children whom are currently in college. Rick is an avid traveler, skier, and scuba diver. Gardening is a particular specialty. (Exotic Palm Trees, Orchids, and Bromeliads) He has worked on a number of Charities and Coached Soccer, Pop Warner Football, Little League and Varsity Lacrosse for many years.
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Bob Lambert
With over 25 years experience in multiple business industries, Bob Lambert understands the transformational affect that exceptional leadership talent can have on an organization. He has served as the Chief Human Resources Officer for three public corporations as well as Managing Partner with two global consulting firms. He served as a Managing Partner with the international executive search firm Christian & Timbers where he built and led the firm’s western U.S. organization. While at Christian & Timbers, he served on the firm’s Executive Board, and conducted numerous executive search and consulting engagements for both early-stage companies as well as Global 1000 Consumer, Retail, Technology and Insurance and Financial Organizations. Prior to Christian & Timbers he was the founding partner at Hedrick & Struggles International Orange County office where he focused his search and consulting practice in the Venture and Private Equity backed Consumer, Retail, and Technology sectors. He has also served as Chief Human Resources Officer for the Stride Rite Corporation and over a ten-year period, held a variety of senior human resources positions with PepsiCo Inc.
From 1975 to 1982, Bob Lambert served as an officer in the US Navy. He enjoys his role as Scoutmaster as well as serving on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the National Eagle Scout Association. He holds an M.A. degree of Finance from Webster University and a B.S. in Environmental Science and Geography from Arizona State University.
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Katie Dolan
Katie began her professional recruiting career with Executive Dynamics in 2004. One of the keys to her success has been her ability to relate to her clients and guide them in defining their needs and providing them with the solutions they are looking for. Katie's expertise is in the areas of sales, marketing and food service. Her recruiting excellence and success has been achieved by adapting to industry trends and a strong commitment to her clients.
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Linda Whaley
Linda brings a strong financial and sales background to Executive Dynamics She joined Executive Dynamics after 23 years in banking and financial services. Prior to her move to the company, she was Vice President for Capital Solutions Inc., a Financial Consulting Firm.
Linda worked at Bank of America for 18 years as a Preferred Banking Loan Officer. She has extensive background and knowledge in banking finance, sales, marketing and account management. She then transitioned to Capital Solutions, Inc. as Vice President of loan sales and marketing. There Linda managed a portfolio of upscale clients and lenders for the next 5 years.
Executive Dynamics recruited Linda in 1998. As an associate with Executive Dynamics, Linda has gained a vast understanding of the consumer packaged goods industry and manages both candidate and client expectations.
Linda graduated from Palomar College in San Diego with a Liberal Arts degree and a minor in Finance and Art History. She also attended the University of California San Diego's Financial Planning program.
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Cheryl Crager
Cheryl brings a solid recruiting skill set and understanding of the Packaged Goods Industry to Executive Dynamics. After graduating at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Cheryl began a sixteen year career with General Mills. She held a variety of sales and sales management roles and spent three years as their Recruiting, Training, and Development Manager on the West Coast.
Cheryl's sales experiences at General Mills included account management, trade marketing, category management, team management, and business planning responsibilities. She began her career in account management in the Phoenix market and was quickly promoted to a team management position after three years with General Mills. In this role she lead headquarter and retail sales representatives in developing their business with dry, refrigerated, and frozen food lines. Cheryl's expertise in this area enabled her to lead teams and work with customers in the Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco markets.
As a recruiting and training manager, Cheryl moved to a Human Resources role at General Mills. She was skilled at developing and leading training seminars, and served as the primary recruiting contact at four universities. Cheryl expanded the base of General Mills national recruiting schools by identifying and initiating the recruiting process at the University of Arizona, a university that continues to meet the General Mills sales division's needs in the West. She was also trained in Performance Based Interviewing and successful in recruiting entry level and experienced hires. In the fall of 1999, Cheryl received the General Mills Consumer Foods Sales & Distribution Division's Achievement Award, a distinguished performance award for her recruiting results.
Executive Dynamics represents a select group of companies, several of whom we've served as preferred recruiters for many years. The company conducts searches from mid-level sales and marketing roles to Vice President/General Managers as well as on-going recruiting and consulting services. Cheryl focuses on sales and marketing roles across all levels.
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Stacy Dugger
Stacy brings to Executive Dynamics over 20 years of sales and sales management experience in the consumer package goods industry. Recruited out of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (by Rick Leon) Stacy started her career in sales with Procter & Gamble Paper Products.
After five years of progressive positions of responsibility at P&G, Stacy joined Nestle USA in the Frozen/Chilled division. This later became the Ice Cream division where Stacy spent 10 years representing such delicious treats as Drumsticks, Bonbons and Crunch Bars across the Western U.S. As the Business Development Director of Impulse Sales, Stacy and her team were responsible for developing a preferred distributor network to handle a new ice cream freezer program. This distributor network placed over 40,000 freezers in three years, doubling the Zone's sales volume. Stacy was known for her expertise in field sales and distributor management. Other areas of strength include contract negotiations, recruitment, training and development.
After Nestle, Stacy spent a two years with Schwarzkopf & Henkel as their New Business Development Manager. Her role was to bring brands such as L.A. Looks, Dep, and Got 2 Be to new channels for this company. Stacy secured new volume in Club and Value channels such as Costco and Dollar Tree.
Recruited to Executive Dynamics by (once again) Rick Leon, Stacy is now utilizing her vast experience and knowledge of the CPG industry to help great clients and great candidates match up. "This is a very satisfying business model; we offer trust, integrity and fantastic opportunities for people to achieve and exceed their career goals."
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Betsy Crimmins
Betsy joins Executive Dynamics with a marketing background in the technology industry. Betsy brings an enthusiasm for career development and an ability to develop long-term relationships with candidates and clients. Betsy’s eye for detail and commitment to excellence has helped her establish a track record for success. Betsy is a graduate of Cal State University, Long Beach, CA.
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Jaime O'Brien
Jaime joins Executive Dynamics with a strong background in recruiting. After graduating from the University of Oregon, Jaime worked for a Recruiting firm in San Francisco for 7 years. She then moved to Southern California and joined Prudential Securities as a Regional Recruiter where she worked for 6 years. She then was recruited by UBS Financial Services to be the Divisional Hiring Officer. Jaime brings enthusiasm and energy and will go the extra mile for her candidates and clients.
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Rick Harris
Rick Harris obtained BS in Business Administration and an MBA degree from The Ohio State University. After graduating, Rick began his career in Consumer Products as a Sales Representative for American Home Products. After working there for 4 years he joined S C Johnson - "The Family Company". SC Johnson is the maker of key brands such as; Glade, Pledge, Ziploc Bags, Windex, Edge Shaving Cream, Shout, as well as other leading consumer products.
At SC Johnson Rick held several key positions in Sales and Marketing. Rick joined the company as a National Sales Manager, where he led his division. Also, at SCJ he was appointed the President & General Manager of the entire Caribbean Operation based out of San Juan, PR. The Caribbean sub delivered record Sales, Share and Profit growth.
In 2003, after 19 years at SCJ, Rick was recruited into another industry. After 19 years at SCJ he accepted a position with Michelin, the Leading Tire Company Internationally. Rick became the Vice President of Sales for North America, responsible for the implementation of key plans and strategies with channels such as Independent retailers, car dealer's distributors, Independents and other major accounts.
Rick is known for delivering business results and his passion for helping people to succeed. People development, motivation, job enrichment and career development have always been high on his list. Rick offers a depth of experience, expertise and knowledge in Executive Recruiting and Consumer Package Goods Industry.
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Brian Nourani
Brian joins Executive Dynamics with 8 Years Sales experience in the Electronic and Consumer Package Goods Industry. He has been Researching at Executive Dynamics for over 2 years. Brian brings great enthusiasm and an eye for talent to Executive Dynamics. He has completed his Associates Degree and is continuing on track to receive his Bachelor’s Degree from Cal State University, San Marcos in 2010.
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Tom Candelaria
Tom enters the executive search business from the corporate finance world. Prior to joining Executive Dynamics, he has participated in several angel-round and late stage investments among numerous start-up ventures as well. During the past 14 years, through privately held TMC Advisors, he was able to directly and indirectly participate in transactions totaling over $100 million. Prior to that, Tom was an executive VP with Paine Webber, and Prudential Bache securities. A graduate from UC Santa Barbara in Business Economics, he was also a member of the 1979 NCAA Division 1 Championship Water Polo team.
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Tara Arolla
College Intern & Research Assistant
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