We are thrilled to announce that Catch’s Christina Lock, Founder and CEO, and Thomas Bohrnstedt, President and Co-Founder, will join Verge Talent Partners’ Jen Tress and Eloise Thome to host a panel on June 3 at the Loudoun County’s Department of Economic Development’s monthly CyberTech Meetup. This event also serves as an introduction to the Verge/Catch partnership which aims to be a one-stop-shop for HR and hiring solutions tailored to cybersecurity companies in the region.
The panel will provide an expert-level deep dive into hiring best practices and HR strategies in the technology sector, including the highly competitive world of cybersecurity. Whether you’re an employer or employee, this session will provide key insights on how to accelerate business growth, and position your company or yourself as a top cyber expert in the private and public sectors.
The panelists will begin by discussing the current talent landscape, and how the influx of federal talent into the private sector will affect hiring demand, and how skillsets like project management, policy expertise, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and leadership translate into a commercial environment. They will also cover the challenges and misconceptions of hiring someone from the federal space, and how to position your business as the employer of choice during the recruitment process.
The focus will then turn to employer brand, and how to fine-tune your recruitment strategies to truly sell candidates on your values, cultures, and overall employee experience. The strategies put forth will help guide your approach towards attracting top federal talent by highlighting mission alignment and purpose-driven roles.
The event will be held on June 3 at Honor Brewing Company at 5:30pm beginning with networking, with the panel beginning at 6:15pm. After a Q&A session, an open mic, and more networking, the event will conclude around 7:30.
Registration is free, and we hope to see you there!
Panelist Details
Christina Lock, Founder and CEO, Catch Talent
Christina is an entrepreneur, leader, human resources executive, and public speaker with a proven track record of building companies and talent attraction expertise. As CEO of Catch Talent, Christina leads the delivery of technical recruiting services to growing technology, creative, and government contracting companies. Prior to launching Catch, she was a founding member and Vice President of HR and Recruiting at SPARC, where her team hired over 300 Team Members in less than five years. Christina has also held leadership, recruiting, and business development positions at ARAMARK and Aerotek. Christina is the Past Chairperson for The Harbor Entrepreneur Center, and also serves on the boards of Charleston Women in Tech, and EO Charleston, and has spoken at SHRM, DIG South, Pecha Kucha, and the College of Charleston. She mentors fellow entrepreneurs, Mompreneurs and professionals through the Harbor Entrepreneur Center, and Women in Tech. She is also a proud “Boy Mom” of her two sons, Connor and Carson.
Thomas Bohrnstedt, President and Co-Founder, Catch Talent
Thomas Bohrnstedt is a 20-year industry executive, proven leader, mentor, and builder whose mission is enabling his clients’ growth by attracting and retaining their most valuable asset: Their employees. As President of Catch Federal, Thomas manages the strategic vision, operations, sales, and delivery. Under his leadership, Catch Federal has supported over 30 Federal contracts and placed over 1,000 employees in 42 states, all of which support Veterans, Veterans Health, and the Warfighter across diverse skill sets and domains. Notable wins include Connected Care (Dept. VA), Integrated Critical Staffing Program (Dept. of VA), HITS-U II DSRC’s (Army), NAVMAC Naval Messaging (Navy), and NIWC Red Team (NAVWAR). Prior to Catch, Thomas was a Senior Business Director for Advanced Technology International where he focused on building OTA’s as a consortium management firm. He also spent over nine years as a year-over-year top performer for a billion dollar government services company. In Thomas’ spare time he is a proud girl dad and dedicated coach.
Jen Tress, Co-founder and Principal, Verge Talent Partners
Jen is a systems thinker and connection-maker who brings a consultative, collaborative approach to all she does. With 20+ years of experience in consulting, strategy, operations, and human resources, she’s guided countless organizations through startup and high growth cycles, problem resolution, and significant change. She knows that work is full of challenging power structures, and aims to keep everyone’s humanity in mind by bringing joy and respect to every interaction. As Co-founder and Principal at Verge, she is responsible for overseeing growth and client delivery. Prior to Verge, Jen has held leadership positions in the federal government and private sector. She’s overseen complex engagements with several federal cabinet agencies, the State of California, FedEx, Delta Airlines, Nationwide Insurance, the Nature Conservancy, and multiple nonprofits. During her time at GSA’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS), Jen led 18F’s Talent Team in growing this government tech start up from 60 to 215 in 18 months, then stepped up as the TTS Chief of Staff to help guide the organization through significant change. Outside of work hours, comedy and hiking are her favorite ways to recharge.
Eloise Thome, Managing Partner, Verge Talent Partners
Eloise is an HR leader who’s seen firsthand how people-centered strategy is the best foundation for growth. Over her two decades working in talent and HR, she’s created employer brands, built hiring strategies, advised executives and managers, assessed compensation and performance strategies, driven engagement, and mentored HR talent. Her imaginative and creative approach balances qualitative and quantitative methods to solve problems from a fresh perspective. At Verge, Eloise leads our private sector practice where she can draw upon her extensive experience as an HR business leader in a wide range of sectors, from healthcare to branding, to software to manufacturing. No matter the field, she connects the human side with the business side to help both succeed. Away from work, she’s just as content toiling in her garden as she is with a paintbrush in her hand.
Company Details
About Catch Talent
Catch Talent is a high-touch recruiting agency that delivers end-to-end talent acquisition solutions to growing technology, financial services, healthcare, digital & creative, professional services, and government contracting companies. Catch is a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) headquartered in Charleston, SC, and brings decades of technical recruiting expertise to both local and national clients, and offers a full range of flexible solutions including direct placement hiring, recruitment process outsourcing, contract, and contract-to-hire models. Catch specializes in the full talent attraction lifecycle by sourcing and recruiting qualified candidates who are interview-ready, culturally-aligned, and ready to make an immediate impact – learn how at catchtalent.com.
About Verge Talent Partners
Verge Talent Partners came together in 2020 because we saw that even incredible people need help with the people part. Our work is about bringing divergent perspectives together to converge on the path forward — toward growing an inclusive team, tackling new challenges with purpose, or building a diverse and resilient organization. Every organization has its own vision, capabilities, challenges and opportunities. We partner with our clients in many ways, including on a project basis, or as an interim / fractional team, always meeting you where you are, and bringing our decades of experience helping teams thrive. The organizations we work span private, public, and nonprofit sectors, and have one thing in common: They know even the most intractable problems can become opportunities when you bring together ambitious people with clarity and intention. Our deep experience in human resources, talent acquisition, people operations and strategy has given us the tools to help organizations build progressive, people-centered systems, whether they’re making their first big hire or helping an existing team shift gears.