The Puzzling World of HR Technology

Matt Lafata -  President

Matt has over 16 years in the HR industry and has been with HRchitect since 2004. As President, he oversees all aspects of HRchitect including worldwide sales of HRchitect services, marketing, customer success, partnerships, consulting, finance, and corporate development.

As one of the industry’s leading thought leaders and analysts on Talent Management Systems and Vendors, Matt extensively studies the Talent Management market place and talks to leading vendors on a regular basis to stay on top of trends in this industry. Matt has moderated numerous Talent Management shootouts and panel discussions for software vendors and HR organizations such as IHRIM. He has also been a featured speaker on Talent Management solutions at various industry and vendor conferences.

Matt is additionally tasked with ensuring that HRchitect maintains the strongest of commitments to the HR technology vendor community. This includes attending vendor user conferences and analyst days, blogging and tweeting about vendor related news, strategizing on joint business opportunities, speaking to sales groups, conducting joint webinars and seminars, and more.

Matt is also the host of the industry’s most popular live weekly Internet show, the HRchitect HR Technology Happy Hour WebMingle™.

Matt is also a former two-term City Council member in Frisco, Texas, the second fastest growing city in the U.S., a 2005 recipient of the “21 Leaders of the 21st Century” by Inside Collin County Business, a former chairman of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce business networking events, as well as being involved in many other community organizations. In April 2009, Matt was appointed to the IHRIM.link Editorial Committee and spent a year on the committee.

Matt studied finance and business management at Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts.

Tiffany Appleby -  Vice President,  Marketing & Strategic Alliances

Tiffany Appleby came to HRchitect in early 2008 and has moved up through the ranks after beginning as a Marketing Manager and now serves as Vice-President of Marketing & Strategic Alliances.  In her role at HRchitect, she is responsible for overseeing and executing HRchitect’s marketing efforts along with building and maintaining relationships with strategic partners in the industry.  Marketing initiatives have included educational events, such as the Brainery of HRtechnology webinar series, the now famous Beauty Pageant webinar series, IRONMAN of HRtechnology competition, launch of the HRtechnology Happy Hour WebMingle in 2008, The HR Authority monthly newsletter and most recently the HRtechnology Market Minute.  Tiffany also works with HRtechnology vendors, putting together dual webinars and lining up all-star guests for the WebMingle.  HRchitect’s web presence has also grown under her Marketing leadership, including HRchitect’s two blogs (The Puzzling World of HRtechnology & HRtechnology Vendor News), Facebook Fan page, and Twitter.  Tiffany will also be heading up a number of new initiatives in 2011.  She also enjoys attending industry conferences and tradeshows where she has the opportunity to meet current and future HRchitect clients.

Prior to joining HRchitect, Tiffany held marketing positions in both service and product-based industries where she gained extensive experience in the planning and execution of trade shows and special events, public relations, website development and branding development.

Appleby holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Rick Fletcher – Vice President and Founder

Rick is the Founder and Vice President of HRchitect. Rick has 28 years experience in the human resource software and consulting industries and is responsible for corporate development and overall strategic direction of HRchitect. He is a recognized authority on Human Capital Management systems practices and strategies and is often quoted in the press for his expert market analysis of the HCM software marketplace. Rick has led HCM strategic planning initiatives at hundreds of companies including Blockbuster, FedEx, Southwest Airlines, The Mayo Clinic, Raytheon and Sprint.

Rick was formerly Managing Director of Consulting Services at The Consulting Team. Previously, he held a variety of management positions with human resource software and consulting firms including CDG & Associates, Dyer Wells and Genesys Software Systems.

Rick has developed several of the HRIS industry’s most successful software evaluation and implementation methodologies and has served as an advisor and trainer to many software vendors. He is the founding editor of the IHRIM.Link magazine, the leading human resources systems magazine. He is a 1996 Summit Award winner, the highest honor awarded by the International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM) and a past member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) HRTM Advisory Board.  He is a frequent writer and speaker and has presented at over 250 HRIS and talent management conferences over the last three decades. Rick holds a B.B.A. from Stephen F Austin University.

Ron Hanscome – Vice President, HCM Systems Strategy

Ron Hanscome, VP of HCM Systems Strategy, has more than 25 years of experience in the Human Capital Management software and consulting services industries.  His roles in these industries have been as a practitioner, consultant, software executive, and industry analyst. Ron’s areas of expertise in the HCM market encompass core HRMS/payroll/benefits platforms, enterprise-wide talent management (recruiting, learning, performance management, compensation, career development, succession planning), workforce management/optimization (workforce scheduling, time & attendance, leave management, demand planning), HCM analytics, HR Service Delivery (software as a service, hosting, shared services, and HR outsourcing).  He has provided consulting services for numerous organizations including Tishman-Speyer,  Bain, Accor, Cenovus, Barclays Global Investors, Mayo Clinic, Choice Hotels, Dresser Inc., Palm, Lawson Software and Metropolitan Transit Commission.

Before HRchitect, Ron led Oracle’s HCM Applications Marketing team, serving as a thought leader and evangelist for all three Oracle HCM product lines. He also played a similar project management role at Kenexa as well. He also was Senior Program Director with META Group, IT research and advisory firm, where he authored over forty pieces of HCM research. In addition, Ron worked for nine years as an HRMS practitioner with United Health Group and Medtronic, three years as a consultant with Watson Wyatt, and six years as a vendor software executive with Ceridian Employer Services and Lawson Software.

Ron has extensive public speaking experience, presenting frequently at HR professional association and vendor conferences, and he has sat on numerous panels discussing the future of HR and HR technology.

John Hinojos – Vice President, Consulting Services

John Hinojos, Vice President of Consulting Services, is responsible for leading and building HRchitect’s consulting services operation. He joined HRchitect in 2000 and has over 25 years of Human Resource and HRMS experience with more than a decade at a senior level. His primary areas of expertise include Human Capital Management systems such as core HR, Employee Performance Management and Talent Management Systems. He also facilitates Strategic Planning sessions and assists with the HR and Payroll systems impact of Mergers and Acquisitions.

John has co-developed and teaches Introduction to HR Systems, Successful HR Systems Selection, and Fundamentals of Project Management certification courses for the International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM) and Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). He has been a frequent speaker at industry events on human capital management software evaluation, selection and implementation.

Prior to joining HRchitect, John served as President of Triangle Business Solutions, an HRIS consulting firm in San Diego. He has also held HR and HR systems management positions at several Fortune 500 organizations including W.R. Grace and The Seven-Up Company. John is a founding member of the International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM) and served on the IHRIM International Board of Directors in various positions, including Vice Chair, from 1989 to 1997. He is the president of the Pacific Southwest Chapter of IHRIM and the founding editor of The Review, HRSP’s magazine which was the predecessor to the IHRIM.Link. He also chaired the 2001 IHRIM national conference and won the 2001 Summit Award. John holds a BA degree in Public Relations from California State University – Fresno.

Brian Kimball, Vice President, Talent Management Systems Consulting Services

Brian has over eighteen years of expertise in the human resources domain, including over ten years in systems development and implementation experience. He is qualified in all major aspects of HR systems product development, marketing, sales, implementation and support in complex markets, with a thorough understanding of the central business issues driving the HRMS, ERP and E-commerce industries. Over the years, Brian has led the implementation of client/server HRMS solutions, provided extensive training and adoption services to numerous clients, participated in vendor evaluations and selections, as well as implemented numerous ASP solutions. He is well versed in all aspects of the HR domain, including applicant tracking and workforce planning, and the related technologies. Brian has the background and experience to assume account management, project management, and functional leadership roles on any Human Resource Management System project.

During his tenure at HRchitect, Brian has had project management, functional consulting and training responsibilities in over 50 separate applicant tracking system evaluations and implementations. Brian’s extensive experience includes Taleo, Vurv, Icarian, Kenexa/BrassRing, Deploy, First Advantage, and PeopleclickAuthoria Applicant Tracking Systems.

Having worked with companies across North America (including many global organizations), Brian is experienced in the pitfalls associated with managing applicant tracking system implementations. This includes defining project plans, defining client requirements and differentiating between mandatory versus optional functional requirements, controlling scope creep and other fundamental issues required for a successful implementation.

Brian’s expertise in managing and implementing applicant tracking solutions has resulted in several speaking engagements on how to successfully manage applicant tracking system projects. He has published several articles on the applicant tracking industry in the IHRIM Journal and the IHRIM.link.