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 brings twenty years of talent acquisition experience, guiding clients through defining job requirements, identifying and attracting the best candidates, getting the most from their recruitment processes and systems, and leveraging team dynamics and people data to achieve business results.
Chris has recruited talent for organizations nationally, across a broad range of industry verticals, since 2004. He has consulted on recruitment process and systems, architected solutions for large scale hiring campaigns, trained and developed recruiting teams, conducted hundreds of behavioral assessments, and helped companies select and implement the best software for their recruitment needs. He has worked as a recruiter for local and national recruiting firms, owned and managed firms for over 12 years, and is a frequent speaker and panelist on the topic of talent acquisition and retention.
Chris received an MBA from the University at Albany with a Human Resource Information Systems concentration in 2004, and has been an HRCI certified PHR since 2009. He was on the Board of Directors of the Capital Region chapter of SHRM from 2008-2022, serving as President from 2016-2018.
An active board member of Junior Achievement of Northeastern NY, he enjoys volunteering in classrooms bringing financial education to Capital Region youth. He is also an active board member of the Greater Loudonville Association, committed to preserving and enhancing the quality of life in his community. Chris has previously served on the boards of organizations such as New York State SHRM, the Capital Region Recruiters Network, Schenectady County Community College Foundation, and the University at Albany Alumni Association. Currently, Chris is on advisory councils for Albany Law School and Excelsior College, and an adjunct Business instructor at University at Albany and SUNY Schenectady.
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.