Attraction to Retention: A Holistic Talent Strategy

Kim Tran brings more than 20 years of human resources experience, with deep expertise in talent acquisition strategy and execution. She began her career in staffing before transitioning into an HR Generalist role, where she gained hands-on experience across the full employee lifecycle - from workforce planning to onboarding and retention.

After nearly seven years in a generalist capacity, Kim returned to her passion for recruiting. She has successfully sourced and secured talent at every level, from entry-level roles to executive leadership, both locally and internationally across the Americas and Europe.

With a strong understanding of competitive labor markets and diverse sourcing strategies, Kim specializes in helping organizations attract and engage the right talent - not just fill positions. Her experience navigating hiring challenges, aligning compensation expectations, and improving candidate experience makes her a valuable voice on the Attraction panel, where she will share practical insights on strengthening recruiting foundations to support long-term retention.

Taylor Lewandowsky serves as a Talent Placement Strategist at HR Collaborative, where he partners with organizations to secure high-impact HR talent that strengthens business performance. He works closely with leadership teams to align recruiting strategy with organizational goals, ensuring the right people are in the right roles at the right time.

With a background in recruiting and account management, Taylor brings extensive experience building strong client partnerships and delivering tailored staffing solutions across industries. His approach blends market insight, relationship-building, and practical execution - helping organizations navigate competitive hiring landscapes with clarity and confidence.

On the Attraction panel, Taylor will share real-world insight into sourcing strategy, candidate engagement, hiring alignment, and how organizations can strengthen their recruiting foundation to support long-term retention outcomes.

Amy Gronendyk is an HR professional with hands-on experience supporting recruiting, onboarding, and employee engagement across manufacturing and professional services environments. Her work focuses on creating smooth, consistent people processes that help new hires feel welcomed, prepared, and confident from their very first interaction with an organization.

Throughout her career, Amy has supported both campus and experienced-hire recruiting, coordinated interview and offer processes, managed HRIS and compliance activities, and served as a trusted point of contact for employees navigating benefits, onboarding, and day-to-day HR questions. Her experience working closely with hiring teams and employees has given her a practical perspective on how onboarding, communication, and early employee support influence retention outcomes.

Today, as an HR Flex Pro with HR Collaborative, Amy partners with organizations to strengthen recruiting coordination, onboarding workflows, and employee support processes. On the Retention panel, she will share insights on how thoughtful onboarding, clear communication, and consistent HR practices help organizations build stronger employee experiences that support retention beyond the first 90 days.

Celeste Ross is an Organizational Development professional and Career Empowerment Speaker dedicated to strengthening leadership capability and building people-centered workplace cultures. She designs and leads programs that help organizations close skill gaps, develop self-aware leaders, and create environments where accountability, communication, and growth are intentional.

Known for her energy and authenticity, Celeste works with leaders to foster cultures where diverse voices are valued and engagement is sustained - not assumed. Her approach focuses on equipping leaders with practical tools that support retention through clarity, trust, and meaningful development.

Celeste currently serves as President of the Grand Rapids Junior Chamber and Director of Programs at the Association of Human Resources Management, where she continues to cultivate emerging leaders across West Michigan.

On the Retention panel, Celeste will share insights on leadership effectiveness, generational dynamics, and the cultural practices that influence whether employees stay, grow, or disengage - reinforcing the idea that retention is built through intentional leadership from day one.

With 20 years of experience in Human Resources across multiple industries, Sandi Karman is passionate about helping leaders build workplaces where people feel supported, motivated, and equipped to thrive. Her work centers on strengthening team dynamics, elevating communication, and developing leaders who can create clarity and trust from day one.

Sandi holds a master’s degree in Organizational Communications from Western Michigan University and brings a deep bench of expertise to her consulting work, including Prosci Change Management Certification, Senn Delaney Trainer Certification, and certifications in Cultural Intelligence and Unconscious Bias. She also partnered with Wiley in the development of the Productive Conflict DiSC tool and later served as a panelist at Wiley’s International Conference.

On the Retention panel, Sandi will share practical insight on how onboarding, leadership effectiveness, communication, and cultural alignment influence whether employees stay and grow - reinforcing that retention is not a reactive strategy, but a leadership discipline that begins the moment an offer is accepted.

As Director of Talent Placement at HR Collaborative, Matt Jemilo works closely with organizations to strengthen their hiring strategies and connect them with high-impact HR talent. Through his work advising leaders on recruiting challenges, workforce alignment, and talent strategy, Matt brings a practical understanding of the hiring pressures many organizations are facing today.

Prior to joining HR Collaborative, Matt built a strong foundation in talent acquisition across both higher education and corporate recruiting. While leading recruiting initiatives at Service Professor, he redesigned the company’s hiring process, reducing hiring costs by 65% while also improving retention outcomes. His earlier roles in higher education further shaped his ability to develop leaders, build strong communities, and create environments where people can succeed.

As host of this Collaborative Café, Matt will guide the conversation between the Attraction and Retention panels, helping connect real-world recruiting challenges with practical retention strategies. His experience advising organizations on hiring systems and talent alignment makes him well positioned to facilitate a conversation focused on what leaders can do today to improve hiring outcomes and strengthen retention.

Hiring top talent is hard. Keeping them is even harder.

In today’s employer-favored job market, organizations are flooded with applications—but still struggling to find the right people, move efficiently, and retain employees once they’re hired. Lengthy processes, outdated job descriptions, inconsistent onboarding, and unclear compensation strategies quietly erode trust long before turnover shows up in the data.

During this March Collaborative Café, we’ll explore how attraction and retention are two sides of the same talent strategy.

Through two dynamic panel conversations, we’ll dig into what’s really happening in recruiting and retention today—and where organizations most often go off track.

Panel 1: Attraction

We’ll examine common breakdowns in the recruiting process, from accessibility and application fatigue to misaligned expectations and slow decision-making. Panelists will share what they’re seeing in the market and how organizations can improve candidate experience while keeping a strong pulse on their pipeline.

Panel 2: Retention

Retention doesn’t start at day 90—it starts on day one. This panel will focus on onboarding, 30/60/90-day plans, job clarity, handbooks, and compensation practices that either reinforce commitment or push talent out the door.

Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the current labor landscape, practical ways to improve their hiring and onboarding processes, and 1–2 tangible actions they can implement immediately to strengthen retention.

12:00 - 12:05 PM

Welcome

12:05 - 12:25 PM

Panel Discussion 1 - Attraction: Getting the Right People in the Door

12:25 - 12:30 PM

Q&A 1

12:30- 12:50 PM

Panel Discussion 2 - Retention: Keeping Talent Once They're Hired

12:50 - 12:55 PM

Q&A 2

12:55 - 1:00 PM

Conclude