“The mechanics of industry is easy. The real engine is the people: their motivation and direction.” Ken Gilbert
Companies grow with courageous, inquisitive, and innovative people. Retensa stays dedicated to this formula and we have become some of the most recognized Employee Retention Experts in the world. Selected Retensa Team Bios and Advisors are listed below. Great appreciation goes out to each of them for their hard work and commitment to our vision.
Chason Hecht: CEO
Chason Hecht is an advocate and innovator of employee retention strategies, and the founder of Retensa. Retensa addresses the social, operational, and financial impact of employee turnover. Chason built Retensa to be a leading employee retention program provider in 59 countries and 21 languages. As the world’s most recognized employee retention expert, Chason is noted by global media including NBC News, ABC News, Forbes, BusinessWeek, the Associated Press, HR Magazine, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, World Policy Journal, and the United Nations. He is a popular keynote speaker from Kentucky to Kuala Lumpur and the publisher of Employee Retention News. Previously, he served as Vice President of Operations at an international manufacturer where he led employee reward and recognition programs, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. As Manager of Technology at a global consulting firm he oversaw a $40 million IT budget across the US and Europe. Additionally, Mr. Hecht bicycled across the United States, climbed Mt Fuji, and worked with the Israeli army.
Dana Small: Service Delivery Manager – Consulting
Dana Small is an experienced Talent Management professional specializing in survey design, survey analysis, and employee perceptions. She develops employee surveys for clients all over the world including private, public, educational and non-profit employers with hundreds to hundreds of thousands of employees. Her survey experience includes Exit Interviews, Employee Engagement, Program Evaluation, Training Needs Assessments, Employee Commitment, and more. She has depth of industry knowledge in Accounting, Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, Technology, and professional services.
Dana’s talent management skills and expertise also includes improving employee hiring and selection programs by identifying and developing workplace competency models, creating competency-based organizational structure, and deploying performance rating instruments. She has designed and launched enterprise-wide mentor programs, including needs analysis, mentor/mentee selection and mentor program training. Prior to Retensa, Dana worked at AIG (American International Group) where she was responsible for evaluating leadership training initiatives. Dana holds a BA, cum laude in Psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from New York University, where she was a Masters Scholar.
Devoreaux LaVoie: Service Delivery Manager – Training
Devoreaux LaVoie is a Talent Management professional with extensive experience in talent acquisition, development, and employee retention. Specializing in training services, survey design, and qualitative data analysis, Devoreaux develops customized talent management solutions to improve the employer-employee relationship. She manages a team responsible for providing insights into the employee experience, including onboarding, learning and development, organizational leadership, and performance management.
Devoreaux has executed People & Culture projects with dozens of clients to create strategic plans that enhance employee motivation and increase engagement. These include recommendations to improve the employee experience at each stage of the employee lifecycle, and implement software tools and services that accelerate organizational change. She is an honors graduate of New York University, holding a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She enjoys traveling and visited 6 out of the 7 continents (that we know of). You can sometimes find her sipping a margarita or attending a Broadway show.
Carol Ann Caccioppoli: Program Director – Training
Carol Ann Caccioppoli has over 25 years experience as a learning and development professional specializing in training and retaining employees. She implemented proven methodologies of manager effectiveness, interpersonal skills, organizational change, project management, and motivating across generations at clients including KPMG LLP, Chevrolet, Bayer, and Costco. As a Vice President of Prudential Securities, Carol Ann’s team delivered customer service and leadership development training to the entire nationally and internationally based operations group. She worked with senior management, line managers, and administrative personnel in designing and establishing and acclaimed mentor program for 17,000 employees.
Carol Ann designed and implemented off-site leadership training from 5 to over 500 managers and supervisors. From Tampa to Tokyo, she has provided management skills training addressing issues specific to the retail industry workforce, as well as manufacturing and transportation sectors. Carol Ann positively impacted Employee Opinion scores in areas of training and morale, increased the bottom line through leveraging personnel, and her work at a retail bank reduced turnover 67% and reduced absenteeism 80%. She has a proven track record in her distinguished ability to help transform corporate culture. In addition, she has served as adjunct faculty at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hofstra University, and is currently adjunct faculty in the GOAL MBA program at Adelphi University.
Phyllis Rosen: Program Director – Coaching
Phyllis Rosen has over 24 years experience in leadership, staff, and executive coaching, as well as training, learning and development programs. She brings proven personal and professional growth techniques for individuals to break through sticking points to reach new levels of performance, organizational success, and personal fulfillment. Phyllis also served as Corporate Vice President and Manager of Training at UBS where she managed the development and delivery of leadership development programs for the firm’s top 20% producing brokers.
In her executive coaching and corporate training, Phyllis facilitates accelerated development session with all levels of an organization, including: managers, financial advisors, technologists and support staff. She also served as a corporate and career management coach for executives and professionals. She served as Director for a regional non-profit, executing a seven-figure budget to design and deliver training and retention programs for Information Technology workers. Phyllis is a professionally certified career and executive coach by Coaches Training Institute. She is a founder of the Career Counselor Consortium (CCC), and previous Board Director of the NYC chapter of the International Coach Federation (ICF).
Greg Stanley: Technology Manager
Greg Stanley leads software development operations for the Technology division of Retensa. He is a prolific software engineer who started tapping out code since his dad brought home the family’s first computer in 1981—a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. He’s come a long way from writing “Extended Basic” programs, going on to graduate from Millersville University with a degree in Computer Science. For the past 20+ years, he made a name for himself as the MacGyver of software development, a visionary problem solver who always finds the solution. An Adobe ColdFusion developer since 2001, he contributed to medical institutions, national retail stores, and global publishing companies, where he focused on solving business challenges in creative ways. For the Chicago Tribune, Greg designed and developed systems that empowered hundreds of users to instantly query tens of millions of historical ads for analysis. Another project involved transposing hundreds of xml layouts every minute for the LA Times. He specializes in building applications, websites, and automating business workflows to accelerate results. While technology is constantly changing, there is one philosophy that Greg believes will forever hold firm: All you need is a computer and you can change the world.
Ishita Arora: Project Manager – Technology
As certified Scrum product owner, Ishita works with the technology team to develop awesome features and workforce dashboards for TalentPulse. When not engaged in talent analytics she assists clients to resolve their questions, and sends quick tips and tricks to navigate through the platform. Passionate about client interests makes her collaborate with stakeholders/consultants to understand what the client is looking for and how software can support it. She also wears the hat of security and compliance manager and makes sure sensitive client data are protected and compliant with industry and GDPR guidelines.
Ishita started her career as a software developer with India’s leading IT company Tata Consultancy Services to build a financial security software for banks and financial institutions/ trade brokers to trade and maintain their financial portfolios. She holds a Masters degree in Computer Science with specialization in Business Intelligence and Analytics from Stevens Institute of Technology. When not putting out fires in her kitchen, she is cooking, traveling/hiking/camping, and trying out new cuisines.
David Mazer: Project Manager – Services
David brings extensive experience as a Talent Management professional, contributing to Retensa’s management training program development, employee survey design, advanced survey analytics, and performance management. One of his specialties is creating and implementing training programs for clients that focus on the development of leadership and accelerated performance management. His extensive survey design experience includes: New Hire, Quality of Hire, Work Climate, Employee Commitment, Exit Interviews, and Upwards Evaluation surveys. He analyzes employee turnover metrics for organizations, and develops recommendations to improve employee retention programs. Previously, David managed the human resources department of a boutique hospitality company. He holds a Master’s in Psychology from Long Island University and a Ph.D. in Applied Organizational Psychology from Hofstra University. He specializes in team research and has published a book chapter titled “What Matters for Team Cohesion Measurement? A Synthesis”. Additionally, he actively presents research findings at various conferences such as: the Eastern Psychological Association, Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP), and the Association for Psychological Science.
Corinne Ghorayeb: Project Manager – Services
Corinne Ghorayeb brings her professional and academic knowledge with talent analytics to unlock employee insights. In addition to leading Employee Survey design and Exit Interview service lines, she guides clients on retention strategies to reduce turnover, improve workforce morale and accelerate hourly-worker performance in the workplace. Prior to Retensa, Corinne developed mental health curriculum, supported National Emotional Support and Suicide Prevention programs, and planned event logistics at a global not-for-profit organization.
Corinne implements predictive technology solutions for clients across Healthcare, Manufacturing, Food & Beverage and Energy companies. She is an honors graduate with a Masters in Social Organizational Psychology from Columbia University where she also earned a certificate in Conflict Negotiation and Mediation.
Fluent in French and Arabic, Corinne enjoys making the entire team laugh, she also likes spending her time boxing, learning languages and exploring new places.
Amanda Gottlieb: Marketing Manager
Amanda leads the Marketing team at Retensa. With a creative and analytical mind, she oversees all marketing efforts and communication campaigns. Amanda coordinates speaking events for Retensa’s retention experts including keynotes, seminars, articles, and infographics to teach more workplaces about the social and financial impact of employee turnover. She expands access to online properties through traditional, web, and social media to communicate Retensa’s mission “to create workplaces where every employee is engaged by what they do and inspired by who they work for.” Amanda oversees the campaigns that provide engagement opportunities and talent management insights for HR leaders, managers, and staff including Q&A Events, video blogs, holiday collaborations, and Retensa’s Pro-Bono Program.
Amanda graduated with honors from Binghamton University with an MBA in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. In her free time, Amanda enjoys watching the Bachelor Monday nights, biking on the Peloton, and spending quality time with her friends and family.
David Sperber: Project Manager – Software
David Sperber brings strategic thinking, data-driven insights, and a deep commitment to employee wellbeing to help organizations improve their employee experience. He focuses on SMB clientele to understand their real-world needs and challenges, and develops custom employee retention solutions that align with their goals and objectives. He believes that effective talent management is using data to attract and retain top talent, and getting predictive to create an environment where employees can thrive and grow.
David uses his passion for talent analytics and data visualization to develop cutting-edge talent analytics dashboards and reports, providing organizations with deep insights into their workforce. Before joining Retensa, David consulted for Lander College in Queens, where he analyzed key factors that drive student engagement and designed interventions to retain students. David graduated with honors from Touro University with a Masters in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and a Bachelors in Psychology. When not developing talent retention solutions, he enjoys scaling mountains, reading widely, and noodling on the guitar with the amplifier turned up all the way.