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What Makes Us The Best Executive Talent Partners in Minneapolis and Beyond?

From Executive Recruiting to Leadership Development solutions that will enable your company to successfully grow, we have the knowledge and expertise to help you acquire and manage talent effectively. Contact our team today to explore how we can help you get the people part right.

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Accelerating Business Growth Through Great People

Meet Our Team

Mary Nutting

CEO and Culture Champion

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Todd Johnson

Todd Johnson

Chief Operations Officer

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Sofi Kragness

Director of Recruiting

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Richard Rittmaster

VP of Consulting

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Andrew Kuderer

Sr. Business Development Manager

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Alison Pye

Manager, Administration and Finance

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Beau Berling

Senior Recruiting Manager

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Samantha Nelson

Senior Recruiting Manager

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Cara Hoang

Senior Talent Partner

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Sydney Haglund

Talent Partner

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Claire Kosel

Talent Partner

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Sarah Erickson

Marketing Coordinator

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CorTalent Core Values

We Have Passion for People

  1. Help First – We provide value no matter what.
  2. Curiosity – We seek first to understand what is important to you.
  3. Committed – Relationships are everything to us.

We Are Results Focused

  1. Solutions Oriented – Partnering for a positive outcome.
  2. Innovative – Embrace change for better results.
  3. Resilient – Focus on the things we can control.

We Are Better Together

  1. Supportive – We always have each other’s back.
  2. Inclusive – We value the backgrounds, skills, and perspectives of each individual team member.
  3. Growth Mindset – We are ever adapting, changing, evolving.
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Mary Nutting

CEO and Culture Champion

About Mary
Mary Nutting is the Founder, CEO and culture champion for CorTalent.  Mary spent 18 years in technology working for a Fortune 500 Company managing a large team before making a career change to the entrepreneurial world.  She worked for a boutique global management consulting firm specializing in the talent disciplines and helped the business create its first ever executive search practice.  The Company later sold to Accenture.  Since then, Mary has started two businesses with CorTalent being created in 2010.
 
Mary’s passion is helping both her employees and clients to live their best possible professional life.  At CorTalent, she is continually re-energizing the Company’s organizational structure and roles to best suit the skills, interests and passion of its people while continuing to drive exceptional customer success.  With her clients, Mary helps business owners and Leaders hire and retain the best people to help them achieve their desired company growth but also their personal vision and ultimate success.  Mary has dedicated her professional life to aligning structure, roles and people and understands first-hand that when you get this part of the business right – there is NO holding back.
 
When Mary isn’t working (because hey, work isn’t work when you love what you do), she is spending time with her husband Brett, grown-adult daughters Abby and Isabel who are excelling in their own professional world, and her two miniature AussieDoodles, Koda and Floyd.  As the past-president of the MN Chapter of NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owner), she spends a significant portion of her time helping to develop and support other women business owners.
Todd Johnson

Todd Johnson

Chief Operations Officer

About Todd

Todd Johnson is the Chief Operating Officer for CorTalent. In this role, he is responsible for leading the internal recruiting staff as well as the strategic development and execution of their core processes. In addition, he fosters and maintains external client relationships. He joined CorTalent in 2014 and has experienced exponential growth both personally and professionally throughout his tenure. This experience, coupled with his corporate HR background, has provided Todd the experience necessary in leading a successful recruitment agency.

Todd is passionate about building deeply rooted relationships with CorTalent staff, clients, candidates, and vendors.  He enjoys the coaching and mentorship that comes with his role. He invests time with each team member to understand their personal and professional goals and works toward executing their plan. With clients, Todd loves partnering with entrepreneurs and executing their people plan. At the end of the day, he gets fulfillment out of identifying and pairing the right candidate that will drive business growth within a given client.

Outside of work, Todd loves spending time with his wife, Jenna, and two kids, Wesley and Brooklyn. In the summer, you can find them at the local playground, pool, and/or beach. They also make frequent visits to their family cabin in Grand Rapids, MN. In the winter, it is shuttling the kids to and from various sporting events. Todd is an avid MN sports fan and loves to squeeze in attending a game or two when he can!

Sofi Kragness

Director of Recruiting

About Sofi

Sofi’s role at CorTalent is to improve infrastructure and implement operational changes to better serve our customers and to bring CorTalent’s goals and vision to life. With a strong recruiting background, she is able to blend these skills to work with our clients on executing searches with similar accountabilities including specializing in hiring for the EOS Integrator roles.

Sofi has always been a ‘helper’ and a ‘doer’ – seeing a need and executing a plan to fill that need is where she excels. She is passionate about optimizing people, systems, and processes to drive positive change internally at CorTalent and externally with our clients partners.

In her free time, she enjoys doing Peloton strength workouts, listening to True Crime podcasts, and attending concerts with her husband Nick. She and Nick also spend plenty of time playing and staying active with their Golden Retriever Thor.

Richard Rittmaster

VP of Consulting

About Rick

Rick Rittmaster is a leadership and talent development expert and leads the Consulting practice at CorTalent. Rick has over a decade of experience partnering with CEOs and executives to increase the engagement and impact of talent and help companies grow. Working with leaders in large, mid, and small organizations, Rick helps identify a situation’s root cause and then develops practical, action-oriented solutions. Rick has consulted on leadership and organizational effectiveness, innovation strategy, change management, diversity and inclusion, and employee engagement and culture.

Rick’s passion is leadership and developing strong relationships. He is an avid consumer of leadership literature and research, and “gets out of bed” each day to coach and mentor leaders to help them accomplish their goals. Rick is most proud when a leader or team no longer needs his services because of the capacity they have built working together.

Outside of work Rick loves spending time with his family and watching his three young children – Claire, Alice, and Charlie – grow and develop. He is extremely proud of his wife, Kim, who owns her own Chiropractic Clinic. Rick is also an avid runner and has completed 12 marathons.

Andrew Kuderer

Sr. Business Development Manager

About Andrew

Andrew’s role at CorTalent includes interfacing with clients to partner on tools and projects that are critical to the optimization of the company’s People Plan. These projects include high-level retained search, consulting around working relationships and communication with Teams, hiring assessments, and Applicant Tracking Systems. He also manages our sponsored events and builds on-going relationships with our strategic partners. Andrew holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Management and has previously worked in roles that include coaching and recruiting. He also holds multiple volunteer board seats, including being the Board Chair for the Minneapolis Regional Chamber’s Emerging Leaders group.

Andrew’s passions extend to creating long standing and meaningful relationships, driving to achieve goals both individually and within an organization, as well as striving towards continuous improvement. These passions emanate throughout his work specifically when communicating with clients and working with multiple parties to complete high-level projects.

Outside of work Andrew lives with his wife Sarah and his dog Willow and cat Trudy in a house southwest of Minneapolis. He enjoys playing sports, especially golf and basketball, and going to see live music. Andrew values spending time with family and traveling to see the people most important in his life. Some of his favorite travel destinations include, Long Island, San Francisco, Denver, northern Minnesota in the summer, and Scottsdale in the winter.

Alison Pye

Manager, Administration and Finance

About Alison

Alison Pye is the Office Manager for CorTalent. Alison has dedicated the last 20 years organizing calendars, managing finances and maintaining order in fast-paced environments-both in her professional and personal life. After 12 years as a stay-at-home mom of three boys, she expanded her focus to include identifying potential chaos and creating efficiency in the workplace. Alison spent many years working as the assistant to the Director of Operations for multiple small businesses and wearing multiple hats.

These experiences led her to CorTalent in early 2021. Alison is excited to find an opportunity to learn something new in every situation. She thrives in a fast-paced environment. Alison is consistently looking for ways to help others; she takes pride in reducing the workload of her coworkers where possible. She works diligently to be efficient and helpful in every area she can.

Outside of work, Alison is dedicated to raising her three teenage boys to become strong, confident and self-sufficient young men. She loves to travel (who doesn’t?) and is always up for a new adventure.

Beau Berling

Senior Recruiting Manager

About Beau

Beau specializes in search with an emphasis on Production, Engineering, and Manufacturing. Beau has experience working as an Engineer with a leading global digital manufacturer. With 6+ years of recruiting experience and a strong technical background, Beau has a unique skillset in ensuring both candidates and clients align with the best fit.

Beau has a passion for working with clients to develop the right technical profile to attract and retain top talent in this extremely competitive market. No two searches are the same, which makes it exciting for him to fully identify the needs of his hiring managers before going to market to find the perfect match. Beau also has a passion for working with candidates to find their dream job. He understands that technical talent often times are not aware of the opportunities that are available in this market and loves bringing them together.

Outside of work, Beau enjoys spending time with his family and friends, both at home and up north at the family cabins. He loves spending time with his wife Adele and their new daughter Everly and dog Cooper. Additionally he loves spending time fishing, golfing, and various other outdoor activities.

Samantha Nelson

Senior Recruiting Manager

About Samantha

Samantha graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a Bachelors in Communications. After graduation, she chose recruiting as her career and has had the opportunity to work in both agency and corporate. Sam has found that her strong communication and project management skills allows her to manage and juggle multiple searches for multiple clients and hiring managers. She brings over six years of experience working on roles that range from entry to executive level in a wide range of industries and business verticals.

Samantha is passionate about connecting companies with their next best hire. She prides herself in her transparency and communication with both parties and in ensuring the best possible fit. With her broad range of recruiting experience, she leads our high-volume and project based search initiatives.

When Samantha is not helping companies find their ideal employee, you are likely to find her spending time with her husband and three children, adventuring outdoors, and on the hunt for the best tacos and spicy margaritas in Minnesota.

Cara Hoang

Senior Talent Partner

About Cara

Cara is a Senior Talent Partner with over nine years of full-cycle recruiting experience in high-growth organizations from small to Fortune 500. Her business curiosity and breadth of experience allows her to support a variety of roles across multiple industries but specializes in recruiting senior-level individual contributor and leadership roles.

Cara is strategic, resourceful and passionate about helping hiring teams identify their needs, anticipate potential roadblocks, and collaborate on solutions that ensure quality, efficient, and inclusive hiring practices. She is committed to delivering exceptional experiences for both candidates and hiring managers, and fostering relationships that are rooted in shared successes. Cara’s proficiency in translating data into actionable insights allows her to provide valuable guidance to clients, keeping them informed of the dynamic and evolving talent landscape.

Outside of work, Cara enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband, Curtis, and young daughter, Ruby. She enjoys listening to podcasts, sipping a good latte, and is always up for a friendly pickleball match!

Sydney Haglund

Talent Partner

About Sydney

As a Talent Partner, Sydney supports our Sr. Recruiting Managers in candidate sourcing, vetting, and interview coordination. She graduated from the College of Saint Benedict, majoring in Communication and minoring in Global Business Leadership. In college, she participated in Marketing Club and was a Public Relations Assistant on the Saint Ben’s Student Senate. She has worked as a Client Manager and understands the importance of excellent customer service and client satisfaction.

Sydney is passionate about working with people and building relationships. She strives to improve her skillset and always aims to find a candidate who fits the culture, needs and expectations of the client.

In her free time, she loves spending time with her family, friends and King Charles Cavalier puppy, Copper. Sydney has a passion for travel and experiencing new cultures. In college, she studied abroad in Greece and Italy. She enjoys boating, hiking, and gardening and loves finding new coffee shops and restaurants to try around the Twin Cities.

Claire Kosel

Talent Partner

About Claire

As a Talent Partner, Claire supports our Sr. Recruiting Managers in candidate sourcing, vetting, and interview coordination. She graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College, majoring in Exercise Science and minoring in Spanish. Claire has spent the last 8 years in the health and wellness field; the last five as a health coach.

Claire thrives on working with others. Through her experience, she has learned the importance of relationship building and taking and individualized approach. She is determined to continue developing her skill set and strives to find the perfect candidate for her clients.

Outside of work, Claire loves spending time with her husband, Kevin, and son, Lincoln. Their family loves to visit their family cabins in Grand Rapids, MN and Eveleth, MN. She is also an avid runner, but balances that with finding the best breweries around the twin cities.

Sarah Erickson

Marketing Coordinator

About Sarah

Sarah’s role at CorTalent is to create content to help market our services and better highlight how we can help you get the people part right. This new role will strategize and implement new marketing practices to take CorTalent to the next level in the recruiting and talent consulting industry. With a marketing background and an eye for detail, she excels at the both the aesthetic and analytical aspects required of a Marketing Coordinator.

She is always excited to learn new things and use her new knowledge in the workplace, striving to surpass any goal. She is eager to use this opportunity to grow and bring fresh ideas to create an exciting new marketing presence for the CorTalent.

In her free time, she enjoys taking dance classes, boxing, and doing yoga. She also enjoys spending a night in, watching Netflix and relaxing with her cat, Jinx. Going to local farmer’s markets on the weekend throughout the summer is also a frequent highlight.