Michael Trust, JD, MPA, SPHR, PHRca, SHRM-SCP, CA Mediator

“It is my pleasure to write this recommendation for Michael Trust. Michael just finished law school, which he was attending part-time during the time that he worked with us. Michael joined GNA as our Director of People and Culture, a member of the senior leadership team, and worked as a one person HR department. We had transitioned out of a PEO. Michael worked for both me, on a daily basis, and for our CEO more generally. Michael set about reviewing all of our policies and procedures, compensation structure, performance management tools, talent acquisition, training, and benefits. Michael worked with counsel to update our employee handbook, which was well received. One of Michael's strengths is that he considers action in the context of the legal ramifications and works very hard to manage and mitigate risk to the organization. He reviewed our compensation structure and helped to bring our compensation inline with market and industry data points, which not only helped with our culture internally, but also with our talent acquisition strategies and successes. This included our using for the first time an outside source for comprehensive salary data pegged to our specific positions and job families. Michael also identified significant cost savings in our benefits programs, without sacrificing the quality of our programs. He did this in conjunction with his making a change in our benefits broker relationship to get us better services and programs. Michael left our organization to complete law school as the final year of his program was very intensive and he didn't think it was fair to do that while attempting to work full time for us. Michael stayed to onboard his successor and to ensure that she was set up with everything she needed, including how to use all of the systems, any pending issues, any history she might need. Michael is an excellent HR professional and his recent law degree only increases his value in the professional marketplace.”

“Michael is an accountable, thoughtful, and trustworthy leader. At our then-small but growing firm filled with strong personalities in leadership, Michael helped us navigate a rough terrain of getting organized, navigating tough personnel challenges, and helping us excel into our next chapter. When you work with Michael, you get someone you can depend on, someone who doesn’t give up, and someone who you can trust is as compassionate as he is diligent. ”