BARR Appoints New People & Culture Services Practice Director
In an effort to strengthen our commitment to help fast-growing companies become secure, compliant, and future ready, BARR Advisory has named Kari Cohen as Practice Director for our new People & Culture Services.
Cohen’s appointment marks a new era for BARR with an expanded suite of services to include personalized people programs for innovative growing businesses. The People & Culture practice will focus on core offerings including:
- Talent Acquisition and Management
- Leadership Development
- Associate Culture and Engagement
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging
“At BARR, we know that people and security go hand in hand, and if you put your people first, the rest follows,” said BARR Advisory Founder and President Brad Thies. “With this strategic practice, we can offer our clients a new way to accelerate innovation and drive growth by using the proven processes, automated tools, and trusted partners that have fueled BARR’s own success. These programs are rooted in security, compliance, and associate engagement and transcend IT and HR departments to become company culture. Why wouldn’t we share these best practices with our own clients?”
As a company, the BARR team has grown 300% in the last year alone, yet is able to maintain a 96% associate retention rate and a 94% associate satisfaction rate. Kari Cohen was awed by BARR’s numbers.
“When I joined BARR, it was immediately clear that everyone is valued and unparalleled support is a top priority, but when I learned the associate retention and satisfaction rates, I was positively blown away,” said Cohen. “Now more than ever, a company needs to have the right tools and associate engagement programs in place. HR needs to be nimble, relevant, and humanized—something BARR has done remarkably well, and I look forward to extending to our clients.”
A seasoned human resources professional, Cohen has spent more than 15 years supporting both large corporations and high-growth startups—building People Operations strategies to recruit and retain top talent. She specializes in talent acquisition, associate growth and development, and people programming. Cohen was most recently Director of People Engagement for The Illig Family Enterprise Corporation (TIFEC).
“Cybersecurity is an essential part of every business,” said Thies. “We are proud to have the market’s leading talent here at BARR, and we are thrilled to add a People Operations professional of Kari’s caliber to our roster. We couldn’t be happier to offer this new service to our clients.”
In addition to the a la carte services stated above, BARR also offers virtual Chief People Officer (vCPO) services to support every organization’s unique needs. To learn more, sign up to attend an open house.