Employer Advisory Board

Keela Bearden joined the ResponsiveEd Talent Team in 2022 after 10 years as a classroom teacher in North Texas schools. She holds a BA in Journalism and an MS in Sociology, both from UNT. She is a former NT Daily news writer and UNT Center For Economic Development and Research graduate assistant. Keela is part of a 5 person Talent Team aimed at finding high quality teachers and staff for each of ResponsiveEd’s educational brands. ResponsiveEd boasts more than 100 tuition-free campuses across Texas and Arkansas serving over 20,000 students. Keela is focused on matching UNT graduates with careers they will love.

Adrian has been with Schneider for 15 years most recently serving as the Regional Vice President of their Dallas Logistics Center. Holding an B.A. and M.A. in Communications from Eastern Michigan he began his career as a Football Coach at Eastern Michigan, University of Chicago, and HBCU Central State University (OH). Schneider and Adrian are active with several charitable organizations in DFW most notably, Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support, The Stewpot, and Big Brother Big Sister. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his 7 year old daughter and fiancé doing things like kayaking, crafting and playing basketball.

Learn about the Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion by Schneider and other Employer Partner companies.

Candice Cole is an HR professional with over 12 years of experience in many aspects of HR including benefits administration, recruitment, employee wellness, leaves of absence, leadership and skills development, payroll, and workforce planning. She has worked in multiple industries ranging from higher education to construction management, and currently in business services. With a passion for people, she enjoys celebrating the success of her employee-partners, and seeking new talent at any time, and any place.

Candice is a proud employee-partner at Cintas Corporation in the First Aid & Safety Division. Within FAS, she supports 2 operational offices in the Dallas area as their HR Manager and their “go-to” partner for a word of advice or a listening ear. Formal responsibilities include providing support with staffing, onboarding, partner development and engagement, retention, employee-partner wellness, and safety engagement.

Candice holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Saint Louis University, a Master of Arts from Webster University, and a Senior Certified Professional with SHRM. During her down-time, Candice loves participating in community service and health awareness events as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., or finding drama or comedy shows to watch on Netflix
with her husband Kevin. She also enjoys diving into her family lineage as an “amateur genealogist”, tracing her family’s lineage for 5 generations (so far) with the help of family stories and online
databases. She’s a firm believer her grandmother’s saying, “You gotta know where you’ve been to know where you’re going.”

Robbin Falcone is a talent professional leading with over 25 years talent acquisition and 15 years in the tech industry. She has recently joined the Albertsons companies (ACI) to lead their campus recruiting strategy. ACI has 22 different brands across the US and over 300K employees. We take a holistic approach when we think about how we impact customer and employees’ lives, meeting our customers where they are. The ACI culture and investment in change is one of the reasons Robbin joined.

Elliott Freise joined Enterprise Holdings in 2011 as a Management Trainee, where she was promoted to positions of increasing responsibility in operations including Assistant and Branch Manager roles. True to Enterprise’s promote-from-within culture, Elliott accepted a career opportunity in Talent Acquisition in 2014, where she recruited talent for all three Enterprise brands (Enterprise, Alamo, and National) in the Austin/Central Texas Region. In 2016, she was promoted to her present position of Regional Talent Acquisition Manager in Dallas, where she has designed recruiting strategies that have built solid relationships with partner schools and academic programs. A graduate of Arizona State University, Elliott understands the value of recruiting motivated, college-educated individuals for the Enterprise Internship and Management Trainee programs.

Brad has been with Echo Global Logistics for over 10 years in both sales and management roles. He is currently serving as Senior Sales Manager for the Echo Dallas office. Echo Global Logistics, Inc. is a leading provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services. Headquartered in Chicago with more than 30 offices around the country, Echo offers freight brokerage and Managed Transportation solutions for all major modes, including truckload, partial truckload, LTL, intermodal, and expedited. Echo maintains a proprietary, web-based technology platform that compiles and analyzes data from its network of over 40,000 transportation providers to serve clients across a wide range of industries and simplify the critical tasks involved in transportation management.

As a proud alum of UNT with a BBA in marketing and a passion for logistics, Brad values the opportunity to educate new grads on building a successful career in sales and logistics. Go Mean Green!

Lexi Long is currently a recruiter for City Year AmeriCorps, a paid gap year education mentorship program with sites across 21 states and 29 cities that gives access to graduate school scholarships. She is also currently an online student for Columbia University’s MS in Non-Profit Management program. Before her experience as a recruiter, she spent a year as a City Year Corps member herself in a Dallas, Texas high school. Prior to City Year, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 2020. In her free time she enjoys cycling, rock climbing, reading, and traveling.

Tom Murphy first became involved in research working as a member of an inflammatory breast cancer research team while attending the University of Delaware. Following graduation, Tom was offered an internship with Medpace and operated as a Clinical Research Associate for 4+ years prior to moving into a Clinical Monitoring management position. Tom has worked within several therapeutic areas including oncology, rare disease, and cardiovascular disease. Tom has contributed to Phase I-III trials and has enjoyed the continuous learning oppo/challenges available at Medpace.

Lauren Ramirez is a passionate recruiter at Fastenal, a leading industrial and construction supplies distributor with a global reach. Having experienced firsthand the diverse career paths available at Fastenal, starting as a part-time warehouse employee, she now dedicates her efforts to connecting talented individuals with fulfilling roles within the company. A long-time resident of Denton, Lauren is deeply committed to fostering positive relationships within the local community.

Tim Smith, FIC, CFFM is a Denton native at heart but grew up in a military family as his father served 24 years in the Air Force. His family finally settled in Denton in 2003 and graduated from Denton Ryan high school. Tim attended Austin College in Sherman, TX on an academic and athletic scholarship for football, graduating in 2013 with a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science. Tim joined Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial in May of 2013 as an Associate Planner and then was named Partner in 2015. In 2018, Tim was appointed the Regional Director for the North Central Texas Region and now leads a team of twenty-five advisors and partners from Denton to Plano, Dallas, Sherman, Royce City, and Sulphur Springs. Tim and his wife, Lauren (also an Austin College graduate), live in Denton with their pitbull-dachsund mix (Lucy). Tim serves in the community as the president of the Denton Parks Foundation and as a commissioner on the City of Denton Planning and Zoning commission.

Kayla Walding is the Senior Vice President for Human Resources at DATCU, where she began as a teller in 2012.  She currently leads a number of departments at DATCU including HR and Training, Benefits and Payroll, Compliance, and Fraud.  Kayla also served in the US Air Force Reserves as a Medical Logistics Specialist for six years during her career.  An active member of the community, Kayla volunteers with the Denton County 4H program helping her daughter compete in North Texas agriculture shows and was a participant in the United Way Loaned Executive Program in 2019.  She is a Denton native who loves to read and spend time outdoors.

Tommy White is the Senior Vice President for Marketing at DATCU, where he leads both the Community Relations and Marketing departments. Prior to DATCU, Tommy spent the early part of his career in primary and secondary education as the Executive Director of the Lewisville ISD Education Foundation and Director of Development and Alumni Relations Communications at the University of Oklahoma and University of Texas Arlington. He earned a terminal degree in Nineteenth-Century American Literature while teaching at the University of Oklahoma. He currently sits on the Pediplace Board of Directors as well as the NCTC Education Foundation Board and loves to participate (or watch!) anything sports-related, from baseball to biking to competitive breaking.