About us

Founder and Executive Director

Ron Visconti has a long history of working with the job seekers and the employer community.

He founded and managed the nonprofit career center, Career Education Center, for 18 years, and has organized hundreds of job fairs and recruitment events, overseen numerous transition projects, which assisted laid off workers, and taught and counseled hundreds of job seekers and career changers.

He was a previous recipient of the Career Counselor of the Year (bestowed by his peers of the California Career Guidance Association).

He has written numerous articles for Bay Area papers and has co-authored two books on recruitment and termination. He has taught at several local colleges in human services and career counseling.

Read this article in the San Bruno Patch, 9/7/11 written by Kim Ewertz.

MEET OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Who We Are

Beth Barraza

Beth worked at Franklin Templeton for 30 years. Most of Beth’s time at FT was in Human Resources as a member of the Talent Acquisition Team. As a Program Manager, Beth managed a 2 year rotational career development program and the Global Internship Program. Her areas of expertise include recruitment, diversity and inclusion, resume coaching, interviewing, program management, college relations, career coaching, leadership development, and employee performance.

Since 2022, Beth has been doing more one-on-one coaching and consulting with individuals and organizations. Beth sees herself as a career coach that helps people turn their work and life experiences into meaningful conversations with recruiters and hiring leaders in order to get the desired job!

Ann Greenhaw

Ann has enjoyed a 32 year career at Franklin Templeton Investments in the HR Area. Ann’s beginning at Franklin Templeton was a “return to work” into the corporate world when she was over the age of 40! She selected Franklin Templeton after researching their culture and commitment to career development. While Ann was afforded the opportunity to grow and develop within the HR department in various areas, her passion was in recruitment. As a Senior Recruiter, she has successfully worked with most of the departments within Franklin Templeton and is proud of the many hires she has facilitated. Ann feels her success in recruitment is greatly attributed to her goal to put candidates at ease during an interview to better find out more about them as a “person” and have them better convey their skills as they pertain to their desired position. Ann has enjoyed the opportunity to represent Franklin Templeton at many Phase2 events over the years.

Sayuri-Yuli Norrish

Experienced in research in personality psychology and teaching statistics and research methods.
Developed personality measurement and text batteries in Japan to help high school students to find a good match for their major in college. Also one did research on job seekers to find a good match for their next - phase2! - career.

Ron Visconti

Ron Visconti has extensive experience in workplace issues and has helped all levels of job seekers of all levels navigate through difficult transitions and career change. He brings passion and boundless energy to his mission: helping the "Over 40" worker. He brings a sense of community to every organization he has worked with. He has also served on numerous committees involving workplace issues, disabilities, and volunteerism.

Andrew Fukuba

Andrew is a professional software developer with experience in accounting, marketing, and customer relations. Throughout his career, Andrew has volunteered for several non-profits serving San Mateo County communities and has assumed leadership roles. Andrew has enjoyed bringing his problem-solving talents to bear on the pressing challenges faced by our local communities.

Wayne Rainey

Wayne is an HR Swiss Army knife and has done everything from talent acquisition to training. And in a pinch can even brew a pretty good pot of coffee. His professional experience over the last 20 plus years has been mostly focused in biotech and medical devices at both large multinational companies as well as start-ups.

As a long-time recruiter, he recognizes that navigating the job search process is difficult and the chance to be a person’s Career GPS is a privilege. He focuses on trying to break things down to the practical and tactical. Oh and he never misses a chance to talk about Star Wars or food.

John A. Hohulin

John has 30+ years of human resources / training / performance management experience in both global industry leaders and startup companies.

John hires, develops, and manages top-performing teams.

Success Stories

Developed processes for, and managed, a commercial-side Customer Support group to improve customer satisfaction and supplement sales for GenZe products.

Staffed and created administrative infrastructure, policies, and procedures for Silicon Valley-based electric scooter company (GenZe), from one office with 7 people to 80+ employees in 3 locations: Fremont, CA, Portland, OR, and Ann Arbor, MI.

Coordinated with Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to bring in additional state start-up assistance of $180,000 to aid building Ann Arbor factory

Developed effective employee referral program that increased employee-sourced hires by 20%.

Laura Leach, SPCC, RCC

Senior Professional Career Coach and Register Business Coach

Laura Leach is a certified career coach, owner of Meredith Consulting, and the former Manager of Talent Acquisition at Gap, Inc. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

Laura helps female tech leaders simplify the process of transitioning to a career with purpose and negotiate the salary they deserve.

With over 20 years of recruiting experience in technology, Laura brings a unique perspective to her coaching style. Among many of her superpowers, she is amazing at helping people build self-confidence, which goes hand-in-hand with her other strengths, teaching them how to create clear, actionable job search strategies and negotiate a lucrative salary.

Laura lives in the Bay Area and sometimes San Diego with her husband and dogs. If she’s not hiking the beautiful surrounding hills, she’s trying a new restaurant or pretending she knows how to surf.

Laura sits on the Board of Directors for Phase2Careers, a non-profit dedicated to helping the over 40 professionals where she amplifies her voice around ageism in the workplace, pay equity, and job search strategies. She is also an active salary negotiation speaker for Shift.org and practices the Salesforce 1-1-1 philanthropic approach by dedicating 1% of her revenue, 1% of her services, and 1% of her time to the community.

Dylan Hecker

Dylan obtained his undergrad in Human Services and Leadership, which is centered around the non-profit space. Despite being a young professional, he is very passionate and skilled when it comes to talent acquisition. He spent 3 years post-undergrad with a healthcare/biotech staffing agency and most recently, taken on the challenge of being an in-house recruiter with a start-up biotech company, providing valuable experience both internally and externally. He understands how difficult and competitive job searching can be, so he takes great pride in coaching and supporting candidates throughout this process. Additionally, recruiting itself is a challenging industry, but Dylan finds it very rewarding to be able to help people with their careers and find their dream jobs.

Cheriece Williams

Cheriece Williams is a highly experienced professional with over 20 years of experience working in a fast paced environment including manufacturing, medical devices, fintech, and big tech.

She has great passion and empathy for candidates and how they are treated throughout the entire recruitment process - from screening, sourcing and closing candidates to onboarding and training new hires. She understands the importance of finding the right talent while creating a positive candidate experience.

She is skilled in helping applicants build a strong, cohesive story for a successful interview. She also enjoys assisting job seekers identify key successes to highlight for individual roles as well as areas of improvement. She is a collaborative, empathetic candidate advocate who values and works to create an environment of open communication, trust, and respect.

Cheriece is excited to bring her expertise to Phase2Careers to help drive greater career success with its members.