As the President & CEO of Kenton Talent Management, Kristen Kenton provides executive recruiting and custom human capital consulting services to Business Owners, small-to-middle market companies and private equity firms across the country. After working within various recruiting organizations, Kristen has gained valuable insights into the processes and practices associated with traditional retained firms. She has re-launched her company with a renewed and fierce commitment to quality and client engagement. She serves as a thought partner to her clients, whom often leverage her as their “trusted people advisor”. Most recently, Kristen served as a Vice President and Executive Recruiter at Tri-Search, a custom project recruiting and retained search firm. Previously, she was a Principal and Executive Recruiter at Adam James International, where she led the firm’s “Transformational Leadership” practice (focused on senior-level talent needed to grow, fix, transform or exit a business) as well as the “Diversity & Inclusion”search division.
Earlier in her career, Kristen opened the Colorado office as a Principal Consultant & Executive Recruiter for McDermott & Bull, one of the fastest growing retained executive search firms in the Western United States. The company’s leaders came out of DHR International, a top ten search firm. Kristen held multiple roles at the firm, including building and professionalizing the Research and Recruiting function as the Director of Recruiting.
Kristen’s passion for building diverse executive teams led to the development of the Executive Women’s Summit in 2007. Today, she serves as President & BOD Chair for the organization with a focus on connecting, developing and promoting female leaders. In 2016, Kristen launched the Executive Women’s Summit University (EWSU). This intensive leadership development and emotional intelligence program was designed exclusively for highly driven women that want to “level up” as a leader and a human being. The development of this group has allowed Kristen to further expand her diversity service offerings to clients nationally.
Kristen has a deep commitment to continuously building and nurturing a vast network of executives and trusted advisors. She is known as a “master connector” and enjoys helping others build a professional sphere of influence. Kristen possesses a deep understanding of both the art and science behind hiring and retaining strong leaders, and is able to achieve world-class results in record time for her clients.
Kristen is happily married and the mother of two amazing children, Simon and Lily. She enjoys being connected in her community and has been a nominee of the Denver Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” and “Outstanding Women in Business” awards.
As an Executive Recruiter with Kenton Talent Management, Olivia Erwin has successfully executed cross-functional leadership searches for small-to-middle market companies and private equity firms across the country. Olivia has demonstrated a unique ability to navigate competitive and complex talent landscapes and develop long-term relationships with candidates and clients.
Olivia has been instrumental in professionalizing operational rigor and implementing recruiting best practices within Kenton Talent Management’s retained search practice. She has implemented and enhanced policies, processes, documentation, and automation throughout the business.
Earlier in her career, Olivia served as a Manager in the Retail industry, where she gained significant experience leading and coaching teams to achieve high standards of customer service. Due to her success, Olivia became a Certified Trainer, where she was responsible for mentoring and elevating cross-functional, front-line crew members across multiple locations throughout the country. Here, she learned the art of effective communication and how to assess learning styles for optimal training.
Olivia is committed to leveraging her innate skills in assessing top talent and building intimate relationships to serve as a strong member of the Kenton TalentManagement team. Olivia’s passionate nature and her ability to learn quickly has enabled a smooth transition to talent management and retained search. Olivia is determined to develop her work into a life-long career.
In her free time, Olivia practices four self-taught instruments and hosts frequent concerts for her long-term boyfriend and their dog, Bear. Olivia is passionate about diversity, and women in leadership. She enjoys bolstering the “Future Leaders” business segment of the Executive Women’s Summit organization.
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