Partnering for Leadership Success.
At PeopleWise, we specialize in finding leaders and key contributors who drive your business forward. Founded on a commitment to thoughtful, data-driven searches, we focus on understanding your organization, your culture, and your goals.
We measure our success by the success of your hire. Every decision we make is grounded in data, insight, and the goal of building teams that perform, lead, and grow together.
Our Approach.
From initial stakeholder meetings to crafting compelling offers, we guide you through every stage of the search. We clarify role expectations, create structured interview processes, engage top talent effectively, and support seamless onboarding. Hiring isn’t just a transaction, it’s the start of a new chapter for your business.
Meet Your Talent Advisors.
Chris Wessell and Amy Johnson bring together 50+ years of experience in talent management advisory to businesses ranging from startups to global enterprises. Chris and Amy each owned and operated firms for decades, and often collaborated on projects. During this time they found shared values and approaches, and were able to accomplish even more complex and rewarding projects when working together. This ultimately led to formalizing their relationship in a new firm, PeopleWise, in 2020. Chris and Amy look forward to bringing their expertise to your organization.
Chris Wessell
Chris Wessell brings more than 21 years of talent acquisition experience, helping organizations define critical roles, attract top candidates, optimize recruitment processes, and leverage team dynamics and people data to drive results.
Since 2004, he has recruited nationally across industries, advised on recruitment systems and processes, designed large-scale hiring campaigns, trained and developed recruiting teams, conducted hundreds of behavioral assessments, and guided companies in selecting and implementing hiring technology. He has worked for both local and national recruiting firms, led his own firms for over 15 years, and is a frequent speaker and panelist on talent acquisition and retention.
Chris earned his MBA in Human Resource Information Systems from the University at Albany School of Business in 2004 and has held HRCI’s PHR certification since 2009. He currently teaches Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior, and Strategic Management as an adjunct instructor at his alma mater.
Invested in his community, Chris serves on the boards of Junior Achievement of Northeastern NY and the Greater Loudonville Association. He previously served on the boards of the Capital Region chapter of SHRM (2008–2022, including two years as President), New York State SHRM, the Capital Region Recruiters Network, the Capital Area Technology Association, the Schenectady County Community College Foundation, and the University at Albany Alumni Association.
Amy Johnson
Amy brings over thirty years of leadership in technology commercialization, coaching and organizational development working with start-ups through Fortune 100 organizations. She partners with clients that are targeting accelerated growth, moving into new markets, or building highly productive teams through organizational assessment and development, leadership coaching, executive and technical retained search, behavioral analytics, succession planning and in aligning talent with business strategies. She has successfully completed more than 1700 projects, building, optimizing and coaching highly productive teams for regional, national and international organizations. She also currently serves as the EIR at the Biomedical Acceleration and Commercialization Center at Albany Medical Center.
Graduating from Union College in Schenectady, NY with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Amy leveraged her technical, business and communication skills into senior assignments in manufacturing and product engineering at Texas Instruments and as a very early employee at Apple Computer. During her tenure with Apple Computer, she was selected to lead the first team responsible for the transfer of Apple’s desktop systems manufacturing operations to Singapore.
In addition to her business pursuits, Amy has actively participated in the community serving on several boards including CDPHP, EYP, Sunmark Credit Union, Proctor’s Theater, and as an inaugural member on the Tech Valley High School Board. Professional recognition includes selection by the Small Business Council of New York State with the Entrepreneurial Enterprise Award, The Center for Economic Growth in for Technology Mentor of the Year, The Center for Economic Growth Jeff Lawrence Life Time Achievement Award and is a recipient of The Women of Excellence in Business Award by the Albany Business Review.
