With a team of 50+ business consultants and research associates, Connery Consulting has decades of industry experience. Priding ourselves on quality and personalized service, we are committed to excellence by bringing you the best of the best with a specialized approach.
We are industry experts providing a high level of professionalism, integrity and client satisfaction.
We offer a full suite of services including Compensation Advisory Services, HR Advisory Services and Talent Acquisition.
We take a personalized approach to fully understand and adapt to the unique needs of our clients.
NANCY CONNERY // Founding Principal
The founding principal of Connery Consulting, Nancy Connery expresses her strategy succinctly, "I'm passionate about people." she says, and it's her passion for people that has fueled Connery Consulting's enormous success in helping to build many of the fastest growing technology companies in the history of the industry. Collaborating with entrepreneurs and senior executives to define their vision and build a strategic brand around talent acquisition, Nancy has helped companies including Airbnb, Dropbox, Instacart, Facebook, Medium, Twitter and Zendesk address the challenges of scaling and grow into vibrant and profitable companies. With personal attention to every project, Connery Consulting has become the premier human capital consulting practice, servicing the best of the best in technology.
Nancy has held management and operations positions in the human resources field for more than 25 years. Beginning her career in search, Nancy partnered with Marc Benioff to build two key divisions at Oracle Corporation, including Oracle's Promise, the company's first philanthropic venture. As the fifth employee of salesforce.com, Nancy recruited and hired more than 650 employees, and developed and built the human resources infrastructure to support the company's remarkable growth. In 2007, after a stellar run as salesforce.com's founding Vice President of Human Resources, Nancy founded Connery Consulting. With the idea of helping entrepreneurs with all things related to people, Nancy designed Connery Consulting to deliver a holistic approach that includes talent acquisition, strategic total rewards planning, and executive coaching for employees ranging from first-time managers to C-level executive.
Nancy is on the Board at Marin Primary & Middle School where she also chairs the development committee. She is a former member of the Board of Directors for Compass Family Services, a philanthropic organization devoted to breaking the cycle of homelessness in San Francisco.
Nancy is devoted to her family, and enjoys global traveling, outdoor activities and olives in her beer. Her mentors include Marc Benioff and her father, Dr. John R Benfield, both of whom inspired her to give 110% to everything she does. And finally, check out @ajaxthegoldenpup on Instagram.
THANH NGUYEN // Executive Director
Thanh and Nancy started working together in 2002 at Salesforce.com
Thanh originally held the position of Global Compensation Manager at Salesforce, where he was responsible for the strategy, design and implementation of key reward initiatives and programs. As the company expanded, he was promoted to lead Human Resources for Salesforce's APAC region. Relocating to Asia in late 2005, Thanh served as a key member of the executive team which established APAC operations and expansion, and over the course of 3 years, the region expanded from five people to 300. He returned to the Bay Area in 2008, where he served as the Director of Enterprise Sales & Services Recruitment for North America, Japan, and APAC. In 2010, Thanh came to Connery as the company's Managing Director overseeing operations and growth.
Thanh is a pragmatist; his success is based on tangible “been there” experiences. His deep HR expertise has helped companies including Airbnb, Github, Pinterest, and Uber with strategic HR and Compensation problems. “We work with companies that are poised to have market caps in excess of 20 to 30 billion. They are the best and the brightest. It's a challenge and a reward," he says.
Thanh holds a degree in Finance and Marketing from Washington University in St. Louis at the John M. Olin School of Business and serves on the board of Dell and Schaeffer Charitable Trust. He and his wife have three young children, and an Australian Shepard named Maggie.
CLARISSA YU // Manager, Talent Research
Clarissa oversees the Austin office and has led the talent research and sourcing team since 2016. She has managed key sourcing accounts and led full-cycle recruiting efforts for top technology companies in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. A few of her past clients include Curology, Remix, Weebly, and Zendesk. She has built long-lasting client relationships as a collaborative and creative talent partner.
Prior to Connery, Clarissa began her career with the HR benefits team at Microsoft then transitioned into healthcare recruiting. Outside of the office, Clarissa loves to cook, work out, and spend time with her husband and their dog Tango.
NICOLE KHAZANEDAR // Director, TalentAQ
With nearly a decade of technical recruiting experience, Nicole Khazanedar brings an unparalleled approach to matching exceptional talent with leading technology companies. Under Nicole's leadership, Connery Consulting launched a new division called TalentAQ which provides a high-touch approach to the agency side of recruitment.
Over the past 5+ years at Connery, Nicole has managed key accounts and led talent acquisition efforts for technology and executive partnerships. She has also been coined the 'Data Scientist Expert' having built teams for several Connery clients. A sampling of Nicole's clients includes Blend, Curology, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Instacart, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Uber. Through seamless communication, strategic sourcing and collaboration, Nicole has become a trusted talent acquisition partner for seed-stage to unicorn startups.
Nicole grew up in the Napa Valley and graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Accounting. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, cooking, skiing and spending time with her dog, Lucy.
JENICA CANDELARIA // Director, Recruiting Practice
Jenica Candelaria is a recruiting expert with just under a decade of successful experience in hiring and employee management. She started her career as a Recruitment Consultant at Connery Consulting where she managed and executed on every aspect of recruitment for both Technical and Non-Technical clients, working directly with C-level executives. From there she joined Slack where she managed a Technical Recruiting team who focused on rapidly scaling their product engineering organization.
Recently, Jenica re-joined Connery where she manages the Recruiting Consultant team and as strong believer in unlocking performance and fostering inclusive environments is focused on allowing her team to do the best work of their life, here at Connery.
Outside of work you can find Jenica spending time with her Husband, daughters and Boxer, Finn, creating new recipes in the kitchen and on occasion indulging in the latest netflix binge.
PHUONG THAI // Director, Compensation
With over 20 years of experience in Total Rewards, Phuong Thai is the Director of the Compensation Practice at Connery Consulting. Having worked for Salesforce, Visa, Twitter, Pinterest, and Slack, Phuong brings a unique and pragmatic approach to compensation.
Since joining Connery in 2018, Phuong has expanded the compensation portfolio to include the likes of Katerra, Kitty Hawk, NuBank and Participant Media. She has helped founders and company leaders develop compensation philosophies and implement strategic global compensation programs. Phuong is well-respected and seen as a trusted advisor.
Phuong earned her Bachelors in Business Administration with a minor in Economics from Pacific Lutheran University. As an avid world traveler, Phuong and her husband have had the opportunity to explore many places. Some of her favorites are Peru, Iceland, and Croatia. When at home, Phuong enjoys spending time with her husband and two dogs, hiking, cooking, and volunteering with Second Harvest and Home and Hope.
LAURA RICE // Director, Human Resources
As a Director of HR at Connery Consulting Laura Rice has over a decade of experience implementing strategic HR initiatives for the likes of Anchorfree (now Pango), Betterworks, Calm, Chan Zuckerberg, Crux Informatics, HotelTonight, Landed and SambaTV. Laura has been instrumental at Connery in rolling out numerous Compliance and HR Operational Reviews, overseeing strategic re-orgs, designing and implementing career leveling and job architecture, conducting 360s, coaching and training. Prior to Connery, Laura worked in HR for a leading financial services company and for one of Asia’s most prominent internet companies.
Laura’s pragmatic approach and “can-do attitude” have proven time and time again that she is an outstanding advisor and confidant to leading C-level executives in technology. There is no situation too tough for Laura to navigate, and she does it with extreme grace and compassion.
As a graduate of Cornell University Laura studied Industrial and Labor Relations. She has her PHR and SHRM-CP certifications as well. Laura played an active role in supporting victims of sexual assault during her volunteer work with Vera House. Today Laura and her husband are avid supporters of Doctors Without Borders. In her free time, Laura enjoys yoga, travel, and reading. Her favorite adventures over the years have been exploring Africa, Ireland and Italy.
KJERSTIN GREENE // Director, Human Resources
Kjerstin Greene has over 12 years for professional experience with the last decade focused on Human Resources. As the Director of HR for Connery Consulting Kjerstin manages a team of eight with a focus on providing on-going HR support to the likes of After Pay, Airtable, Betterworks, Freenome, Kinetica, Lamba School and Nerd Wallet. Having started at Connery 4+ years ago as an HR Consultant, Kjerstin has personally supported Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Collaborative Fund, Docker, Instacart, HotelTonight, Forensic Logic, Freenome, NerdWallet and Realty Shares.
Kjerstin’s key area of focus and expertise spans from implementing competitive benefits programs, to career development and leveling, to HR Business Partner work and coaching. With an unparalleled knack for making people feel comfortable, Kjerstin has time and time again shown her ability to develop deep relationships where everyone ranging from CEOs to individual contributors rely on her to provide succinct strategic HR advice, particularly around complex situations. Executives have learned to rely on Kjerstin to have a realistic pulse on how employees are feeling and what they need to excel in their roles.
A native of San Francisco, Kjerstin relocated to Los Angeles in 2019 where she has expanded the Connery offering to include Honey, Hyperloop and LiveNation. Having earned her Bachelors in Economics from Pitzer, Kjerstin has her PHR and an HR Certification from UC Berkeley. She is currently completing her coaching certification with New Ventures West.
With a particular affinity for Mexico, Kjerstin, her husband and daughter spend as much time as they can in Cabo San Lucas where they are avid outdoor adventurers. Kjerstin is known for her contagious smile and positive outlook.
