Staff
Gary leads the Human Resources Division and heads the executive search and organizational analysis services. Since joining us in 2013, he has provided human resource management services, executive searches, organizational studies and management support. Gary has conducted over 70 executive searches and assisted with dozens of organizational related projects.
Prior to joining DDA Gary worked his way up the county government ladder, rising from social worker to social services director, and culminating with 11 years as Rice County's Administrator where he managed 16 departments with 350 employees and an annual budget of $50 million. This included organizational oversight of the human resources function for the County.
Tessia joined DDA after working city and county government for nearly 13 years. Tessia heads our Classification and Compensation service area.
As City Administrator in Maple Plain, Tessia created a five-year budget, Capital Improvement Plan, Infrastructure Improvement Plan, strategic planning and worked significantly in human resources and communications. While in Dakota County, Melvin provided leadership training, managed their performance management system and worked with compensation and benefits. Prior to government, Tessia worked at Carlson Companies. In this role, she focused on communications and lean thinking. Dedicated to local governments and continued learning, Melvin earned her doctorate in Public Administration at Hamline with an emphasis on city development and planning.
Liza is a Management Consultant and specializes in Executive Search services. Like all DDA HR consultants, she has a background in public administration at both the city and county level, most recently in Kansas and Minnesota. Liza worked in Wright County providing administrative support to the Commissioners, Coordinator, and Human Resources Department. This path lead her into city management for Clearwater, Kansas, and Arlington, Minnesota. Throughout the years, her work has centered on human resource management, strong community participation, and leadership development. Liza received her MBA with an emphasis in public administration from St. Scholastica.
Mark is a Management Consultant of the firm and has held a variety of compensation leadership positions in media, high tech, manufacturing, local government organizations, and the University of Minnesota. In addition, he has over six years of experience consulting with public sector organizations around the country. Mark holds a master's degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from Cornell University and a bachelor's degree in Human Resource Administration from Muhlenberg College.
Pat joined DDA as a Management Consultant specializing in Executive Search Services. He holds a Government and Management degree from Saint John's University University and a Public Administration and Urban Regional Studies master's degree from the University of Minnesota, Mankato, which he earned while working for the City of Edina. He grew from being the Special Projects Administrator in Wright County to become the Administrator in McLeod County and has city experience serving as City Administrator in the Cities of Arlington and Minnetonka Beach. While working in county and city government, Pat has been involved in policy development, budgeting, and human resources functions including recruitment, payroll, benefits and workplace investigations, capital improvement plans, contract negotiations, grievance settlements, and managed a group self insured health insurance plan. Pat enjoys working with a team of individuals to establish goals, address concerns, and build upon success.
Since joining DDA in 2015, Liz has been involved in over 160 executive search processes and other human resource projects. As a Certified Professional Recruiter and Internet Recruiter through AIRS®, Liz performs Recruitment Only search services for clients looking for assistance hiring those hard-to-fill positions.
In addition to recruitment, Liz provides support and assistance to the Management Consultants within the Human Resources Division. While assisting our Management Consultants, some of Liz’s duties include community research, creating position profiles and advertisements, posting position openings, assembling interview materials for our clients, and providing other general administrative support to our Management Consultants.
Melanie Ault brings over 20 years of experience leading Minnesota county human resources and labor relations operations with additional experience at the city, regional, and state levels. You might recognize her by her passion for examining pending legislation and its ramifications for the public sector. Melanie holds BA, MAPA, and JD degrees, with further education in public administration. She is an avid supporter of professional organizations, serving on the state and national levels. She loves making new connections and looks forward to helping you find answers and ideas. Melanie is one of our AMC Human Resources Technical Assistance Program staff.
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Kelly is a Technical Analysis for the firm and has held numerous data analytics, project management, and human resources specific positions. He has spent the previous three years in the public sector consulting industry, working with organizations across the country. Kelly holds a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from St. Cloud State University.
Prior to joining DDA, Tom worked extensively in client/customer relations. He also brings experience in working with and analyzing business data in the private sector. He will be primarily working on data collection and analysis and providing a great deal of the initial groundwork and research for classification and compensation studies.
Bart is a Management Consultant that focuses on mentoring, organizational work, strategic planning, and executive search work. He has over 20 years of experience as a public sector leader/manager in local government organizations as well as most recently working as a consultant with public sector clients. Bart’s experience has taken him from being the Assistant City Administrator in the Cities of Newport and Chaska, Minnesota, to being the City Administrator in the Cities of Falcon Heights and Oakdale, Minnesota. As a consultant, Bart fostered existing client relationships, supported business development, helped mentor staff, and managed strategic client pursuit and partnerships. He is a strategic leader known for relationship development and connecting people around common themes and goals.
Bart holds a masters degree in Public Administration from Metropolitan State University and a bachelors degree from the University of Northwestern-St Paul.
