Experience

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  City of chattanooga

  Jun 1997 - Jun 2002

  Office of the mayor, eeo officer & lead staff person for the chattanooga human rights comm.

  • Selected by Mayor John Kinsey to restore city’s compliance with state Department of Transportation Title VI regulations regarding minority contracts, due to specific expertise in understanding state compliance.• Successfully implemented program regulations to restore the city’s access to $5M in federal and state funds, leading to increasing contracts with minority business professionals.• Conducted and implemented the findings of the city’s Affirmative Action Plan. This enable department leaders to increase the number of minority employees in leadership positions due to a shortage of minority and female employees in senior roles. Also, project lead for city’s compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act.• Created City of Chattanooga Human Rights Commission’s awards for pro-active initiatives by citizens in human relations during city’s annual M.L. King celebration in 2002, allowing the Commission to present 3 distinctive awards given to a business, non-profit, and individual to highlight good human relations practices in the city.• Spearheaded “Study Circles” in 2001, a city wide discussion on race relations, resulting in 300+ citizens’ participation in organized facilitator-led discussions about improving race relations in Chattanooga and unveiling issues for the city council and mayor to act upon.• Created the City of Chattanooga’s lecture series on Human Rights and incorporated notable speakers including Morris Dees (founder of Southern Poverty Law Center) Representative Harold Ford Jr., and the late John Lewis (Civil Rights leader), successfully gaining regional media attention and ultimately increasing human rights awareness in the community.• Noted as regional leader in fair housing and landlord tenant laws. Frequently made TV appearances to discuss those topics. Show less

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  Unum

  Jul 2002 - Apr 2004

  Regional customer service manager

  • Led, coached, and trained a 16-member team consisting of customer service professionals in a call center environment, including developing the division’s budget and reducing overtime expenditures.• Streamlined and redesigned existing workflow based on feedback from employees, resulting in a 25% increase in production and a significant improvement in quality. • Tracked record of turning departments underperforming employees into key contributors, allowing for an increase in employee morale organization wide.• Handpicked by Area Vice President to recruit 30 employees for staffing the new billing department with diversity in mind, leading to the department receiving company’s highest honor for service excellence in only 6 months, due to the ability to increase diversity through expert talent management. Show less

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  Metro government

  Aug 2004 - May 2006

  Human resource manager

  • Acted as a Project manager for the new Employee Performance Management system, including assisting directors and agency leaders in devising strategies to successfully increase employee productivity and exceeding benchmarks for organizational performance. • Lead trainer for ‘Coaching and Counseling for Improved Employee Performance’ course and the ‘Employee Performance Management’ training programs for supervisory-level employees, resulting in achieving superior training evaluations from class participants due to being able to engage adult learners. • Utilized problem-solving ability and research in best practices to provide resolutions for all EEO complaints made by Metro government employees, including sensitive topics like sexual harassment, resulting in being noted by City Attorney and HR Director for clarity of fact-finding reports and accuracy in examining relevant issues as they pertain to both Title VII and relevant Sexual Harassment Case Law. • Eventually assigned all investigations that may be covered by local news media due to ability to work under pressure and trust established with legal department and HR Director. Show less

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  State of tennessee

  Jun 2006 - Jul 2011

  Assistant h.r. director, tennessee department of mental health

  • Responsible for managing the daily operations of the central human resource office for one of the state government's largest departments of 2,000+ employees spread over 5 statewide campuses.• Consulted by hospital's Chief Officers and Nursing Supervisors on delicate and complex employee relations matters.• Provided employee relations consulting expertise to HR directors located at the 5 statewide campuses and prepared concise fact-based summary reports on employee relation matters, while supervising department's Employee Relations Manager.• Noted by members of the leadership team as the in-house expert on employee relations matters and EEO.• Process owner for altering organizations training program curriculum for new employee orientation, nursing supervisors, and psychiatric technicians, resulting in all classifications of employees receiving uniform training• Process owner for implementing the department's new employee drug testing program through developing RFP, drafting policy, and developing a communication plan to employees.• Acting Director during the incumbent's medical leave of absence. Show less

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  Metro nashville public schools

  Jul 2011 - May 2018

  Executive director, employee and labor relations

  • Responsible for employee/labor relations with the district's teachers and support employee unions, workplace investigations, supervision of the workplace safety office, background checks, HR policy development, revision of employee handbook, and training district leaders on how to execute all management functions pertaining to employee relations.• Led the district's collaborative bargaining as management's chief negotiator with the teachers’ union, resulting in the first agreement in 5 years.• SME in conducting workplace investigations focusing on sexual harassment and policy violations. Title IX investigator for the district. • Conducted "Employee Relations Town-Halls" to help employees understand school district policies and procedures.• Directed Workplace safety office to have scheduled building inspections to meet guidelines of TOSHA, bringing the district into compliance when it had not been previously.• Created "Principals Obligations" training to aid MNPS leaders in understanding basic HR laws for school principals and managers.• Chairperson of the District’s DEI committee. Conducted a workplace diversity audit resulting in more minorities being hired for leadership positions. I also led a gender pay gap analysis, which led to the eventual correcting of a pay disparity for female employees doing similar work as males.• Training delivered on issues such as FMLA, progressive discipline, conducting basic workplace investigations, sexual harassment avoidance, when to report issues to the Department of Children's Services, how to identify when an employee is under the influence, and what is the district protocol in those matters, when can leave be used as an accommodation via the American Disability Leave.• Liaison for policy interpretation and guidance for both support employees and certificated teachers.• Revised employee handbook by researching industry best practices and soliciting input from stakeholders. Show less

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  Karl dean for governor

  Jun 2018 - Nov 2018

  Senior advisor/political director

  • Senior Advisor to party nominee for governor of Tennessee and former Mayor of Nashville.• Created targeted strategies to get voters and led logistics for the campaign events.• Responsible for creating briefing memorandums and talking points for the candidate.• Served as a liaison between the campaign, elected officials, non-profit leaders, and community leaders.• Responsible for outreach to leaders of higher education, public school superintendents, and leaders in the African- American community. Show less

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  Scott b. lindsey & associates, llc

  Dec 2018 - Nov 2019

  Company owner

  • I ran an HR consulting firm focused on small businesses, local governments, and public-school systems.• Licensed Insurance broker with products specializing Life, Health, Disability, and Long-Term Care.• Acted as a third-party investigator, specifically of workplace harassment and HR department audits.

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  Maury county public schools

  Oct 2019 - Jan 2021

  Human resource director & chief of staff

  In this role I functioned as both the HR Director and primary advisor to the school superintendent.I accomplished the following:• Conducted an HR audit of department that included a review of all HR policies, procedures, and reorganization of the HR department. Resulting in better efficiency and higher productivity of HR staff.• Revised onboarding and exit process to eliminate errors with incorrect contracts/salaries and overpayment of employees upon departure by leading collaboration between finance and IT teams to establish new procedures.• District’s lead investigator on Title VII related employment matters. Subject matter expert regarding workplace investigations. Also developed better process for background checks prior to employment. • Established opportunities for HR staff to receive training to increase HR acumen. Used Fred Pryor training and SHRM. • Established a practice of keeping abreast of changes in state and federal employment and labor law. Communicated those changes to front line manager and organization leadership in the form of trainings and easy read memorandums. Show less

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  Orange county public schools

  Mar 2021 - now

  OCPS is the nation's 8th largest school district. 220K students 25K employees.•Second chair during the contract negotiation processes, contributed to the drafting of and interpreting collective bargaining contracts for both the teacher’s union and support employee’s union. •Changed the way bargaining minutes were done. Used Otter A.I. for minutes collection, more precise minutes collection led to better positioning during the impasse arbitration process. •Led the district’s labor relations implementation team, identifying resource needs, streamlining workflows, and ensuring readiness for new collective bargaining initiatives.•Assigned leadership responsibility for the district's non-instructional recruiting-related events/activities and other HR programs. •Assigned leadership responsibility for the district's Management and Emerging Leadership Academies, including the design of course content and evaluations of academies' effectiveness in developing future OCPS leaders.•Assigned by the District's Chief of Staff to be OCPS member of the Mayor of Orlando's MLK Day Commission. Show less

  • Director, HR Compliance

    Feb 2024 - now

  • Senior Administrator, Human Resources

    Mar 2021 - now