Kristen Evanoff
Minneapolis,MN
Summary
Experienced Organizational Talent Strategist with expertise in aligning talent management with business goals. Strong focus on workforce planning, talent development, and leadership growth. Utilizes data-driven insights to effectively address skill gaps and foster a high-performance culture. Excels in building strategic partnerships to optimize recruitment, retention, and engagement for long-term success.
Overview
2026
2026
years of professional experience
Work History
Operations Lead
True Talent Group
11.2023 - Current
- Streamlined and optimized internal processes, resulting in a 20-30% increase in efficiency and improved productivity across teams.
- Managed vendor relationships, negotiating contracts that led to 10-15% cost savings while maintaining high-quality standards and service levels.
- Served as a strategic leader on key client accounts, driving high client satisfaction and achieving 90%+ client retention rates.
- Acted as a trusted advisor to clients, leveraging industry expertise to provide tailored solutions and contribute to business growth.
- Drove business growth by identifying new opportunities with current clients, increasing revenue from existing clients by 20-30%.
- Recruited and trained 2 new employees in one year, ensuring a smooth onboarding process and 90%+ employee retention.
- Utilized data-driven insights to inform decision-making on resource allocation and process improvements, leading to a 15-20% reduction in resource waste.
Organizational Talent Strategist
Consulting Projects
03.2023 - Current
- Developed an intake process for global creative sourcing requests, reducing processing time by 40% and improving request completion rates to 90%+ within SLA
- Led resource management and workload balancing for creative teams, ensuring 85%+ project resourcing efficiency and maintaining 80-90% utilization rates.
- Built trust and collaboration with project managers, contributing to a 90%+ on-time project completion rate and receiving an 85%+ partnership effectiveness rating.
- Partnered with creative leadership to establish scalable best practices, increasing workflow efficiency by 30% and achieving 80-90% process adoption.
- Developed workflows and implemented tools for freelancer/vendor hiring, reducing time-to-hire by 50% and improving transparency, with 85%+ positive feedback from freelancers.
Built and maintained a database of 100+ vetted creative partners, enabling rapid project staffing and reducing new work spin-up time by 25-50%. - Forged strong relationships with artists and agency reps, growing the talent pipeline by 50-100 new industry connections per year and ensuring 30-50% of new hires come from this network.
- Managed contractor communications through interviews, contracting, and onboarding, leading to a 70%+ contractor retention rate and 85%+ satisfaction with the hiring process.
- Established and nurtured strong internal partnerships across teams, driving a 30-50% internal referral rate for hires and maintaining an 85%+ stakeholder satisfaction score.
Global Creative Sourcing Lead
Square (Block, Inc.)
01.2020 - 03.2023
- Developed an intake process for global creative sourcing requests, reducing processing time by 40% and improving request completion rates to 90%+ within SLA.
- Led resource management and workload balancing for creative teams, ensuring 85%+ project resourcing efficiency and maintaining 80-90% utilization rates.
- Built trust and collaboration with project managers, contributing to a 90%+ on-time project completion rate and receiving an 85%+ partnership effectiveness rating.
- Partnered with creative leadership to establish scalable best practices, increasing workflow efficiency by 30% and achieving 80-90% process adoption.
- Developed workflows and implemented tools for freelancer/vendor hiring, reducing time-to-hire by 50% and improving transparency, with 85%+ positive feedback from freelancers.
Built and maintained a database of 100+ vetted creative partners, enabling rapid project staffing and reducing new work spin-up time by 25-50%. - Forged strong relationships with artists and agency reps, growing the talent pipeline by 50-100 new industry connections per year and ensuring 30-50% of new hires come from this network.
- Managed contractor communications through interviews, contracting, and onboarding, leading to a 70%+ contractor retention rate and 85%+ satisfaction with the hiring process.
- Established and nurtured strong internal partnerships across teams, driving a 30-50% internal referral rate for hires and maintaining an 85%+ stakeholder satisfaction score.
Talent Development Lead
Zeus Jones
04.2019 - 01.2020
- Led all recruitment efforts, managing budgets, optimizing sourcing strategies, and crafting recruitment materials, resulting in a 30-50% increase in candidate engagement.
Oversaw project resourcing and workload forecasting, ensuring 90%+ on-time project staffing and balancing team utilization at 80-90% efficiency.
Managed and optimized talent databases for freelance and full-time hires, increasing database population by 40% and reducing time-to-hire by 30-50%.
Director of Creative Services
Life Time Fitness
10.2017 - 02.2019
- Elevated the quality of creative output by optimizing resource management, leading to a 20-30% improvement in project outcomes and increased efficiency through cross-team collaboration.
- Analyzed, managed, and forecasted creative resource allocations, achieving 85-90% resource utilization and reducing bottlenecks in project workflows.
- Strengthened the agency brand and talent pipeline by forging partnerships with industry associations, portfolio schools, and universities, increasing inbound applications by 40%.
- Served as a strategic partner in agency planning, ensuring people-centric decisions that enhanced retention and culture, reflected in an 85%+ employee satisfaction rate.
- Led creative talent management and resourcing, contributing to company growth through innovative workforce strategies and original initiatives to enhance team well-being.
Director of Creative Operations
Adventure Advertising
08.2016 - 09.2017
- Partnered in agency strategy development, ensuring talent and resource planning aligned with business objectives to drive efficiency and scalability.
- Led Project Managers to build trust, enhance collaboration, and streamline workflows, contributing to a 90%+ project success rate and improved cross-functional efficiency.
- Directed talent acquisition efforts, optimizing internal and external hiring strategies to reduce time-to-fill by 30-50% while elevating candidate quality.
Director of Creative Operations
Olson
08.2012 - 08.2016
- Collaborated with Account Service, Project Management, and Creative Leads to evaluate in-progress projects, ensuring they stayed on scope and within budget.
- Assessed and optimized processes and workflows, implementing recommendations that improved efficiency and reduced operational bottlenecks.
- Partnered with creative leadership to allocate projects effectively, ensuring the right talent was assigned to the right work, enhancing productivity and project outcomes.
- Managed budgets effectively to ensure optimal use of resources while maintaining financial stability.
- Improved project efficiency with strategic planning, resource allocation, and time management practices.
Director of Creative Output
Colle+McVoy
08.2003 - 08.2012
- Served as a catalyst within the operations team, facilitating discussions and creating actionable plans that drove best practices for the creative department, improving efficiency and output.
- Managed and developed the skill set of creative services in partnership with the CCO and Director of Design, supporting teams across the digital studio, creative production, edit studio, paste-up, proofreading, and art buying, fostering growth and cross-functional collaboration.
- Led creative talent and resource management, contributing original ideas and strategies that supported the company's well-being and growth, while driving innovation and team engagement.
- Developed high-performing teams by providing mentorship, guidance, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Established a culture of continuous improvement by fostering open communication channels and empowering employees to voice their ideas.
- Coordinated project workflows, ensuring adherence to timelines and project scope for efficient delivery
- Responsible for keeping all team members on schedule based on timelines and scope of project
Education
B.A. - Public Relations
St. Mary's University
Winona, MNSkills
- Resource Management
- Project Operations Management
- Operational efficiency
- Workforce Management
- Sourcing Management
- Onboarding Process
- Creative Services
- Team Building and Leadership
- Asana
- Trello
- Monday
- Workday
- Taleo
- Basecamp
- 10,000 Feet
- Mondaycom
- Workfront
- Tracker
Industry Experience
- Advertising
- Marketing
- Design
- Retail
- Photography
Timeline
Operations Lead
True Talent Group
11.2023 - Current
Organizational Talent Strategist
Consulting Projects
03.2023 - Current
Global Creative Sourcing Lead
Square (Block, Inc.)
01.2020 - 03.2023
Talent Development Lead
Zeus Jones
04.2019 - 01.2020
Director of Creative Services
Life Time Fitness
10.2017 - 02.2019
Director of Creative Operations
Adventure Advertising
08.2016 - 09.2017
Director of Creative Operations
Olson
08.2012 - 08.2016
Director of Creative Output
Colle+McVoy
08.2003 - 08.2012
B.A. - Public Relations
St. Mary's University
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