Hire A Team Of Seasoned HR Professionals

Candice helps business owners transform HR from a recurring challenge into a strategic advantage. With more than 25 years of executive leadership experience across finance, operations, and people, she brings a practical, business-first perspective to building strong teams and sustainable companies.

Having served as a CFO, operator, consultant, and business owner, Candice understands firsthand the pressures leaders face as they grow their teams and scale their organizations. She connects people strategy with operational efficiency and financial performance—helping clients strengthen leadership, improve accountability, navigate complex employee matters, and build the infrastructure needed for continued growth.

As CEO of Clearwater HR Consulting, Candice leads a team of experienced HR professionals who provide customized, hands-on support for growing businesses. From day-to-day HR challenges to long-term workforce strategy, her goal is to give business owners confidence that their people operations are handled—so they can focus on leading and growing their companies.

Rachel is a seasoned HR leader with over 20 years of experience driving People Operations and Strategy across startups, high-growth ventures, multi-site service providers, and global Fortune 500 companies. Her strategic, people-first approach is grounded in hands-on work across tech, retail, warehousing, e-commerce, and digital media. Rachel has led HR transformations at a Target-acquired tech startup, a regional commercial installation firm, and a national beauty education company. Her expertise includes organizational design, talent strategy, compensation and benefits, workforce planning, and M&A. Known for building trust quickly and simplifying complex challenges, she delivers practical, business-aligned people solutions. Rachel is a certified Professional in Human Resources, both federally and in California (PHR-CA), and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Mendi Bitner has over 25 years of experience leading HR in both large and small organizations. As a former Chief HR Officer, Mendi has built HR functions and led HR teams many times over across a variety of industries including healthcare, IT, real estate, mental health, retail, eCommerce, and hospitality. From leading HR in teams with over 10,000 employees and helping brand new startups grow from their first employee, Mendi has seen it all. Specializing in building scalable processes for growing teams and providing coaching on employee relations issues, Mendi has a proven track record of helping organizations not only stay compliant across all 50 states but also build enduring people cultures for companies on the fast track. 

Stacey possesses an extensive repertoire of strategic and operational human resources techniques, drawn from her distinguished career spanning more than 20 years in the field. As an accomplished former senior HR executive and current consultant and coach, Stacey’s methods are rooted in client partnership and include a comprehensive approach that integrates both strategic vision and operational excellence. She has extensive experience building scalable HR processes and functions, such as talent acquisition and recruitment systems, performance management frameworks, employee engagement programs, and learning and development initiatives. Her expertise also includes developing DEI strategies, implementing HR technology solutions, ensuring compliance with relevant labor laws and regulations, and guiding organizations through change management. Stacey leverages data-driven insights to inform decision-making, ensuring that HR initiatives are both impactful and measurable.

Motivated by a genuine passion for leadership development, Stacey guides individuals and teams by providing them with the necessary awareness, business tools, and clarity to accelerate business growth, even amid rapid change.

Dana brings over 20 years of strategic human capital leadership, having spearheaded HR functions across fast-paced and high-growth sectors such as non-profit, technology, healthcare, energy, and manufacturing verticals. With a background as a Chief Human Resources Officer and a trusted advisor to C-suite leaders, Dana has crafted a career marked by transformative change and operational excellence.

Her expertise encompasses a broad spectrum of HR disciplines, including AI integrations, strategic leadership development, executive coaching, and mergers and acquisitions. Dana is particularly noted for her ability to craft scalable human capital infrastructures that not only ensure compliance across various regulatory environments but also foster engaging, technology-enhanced corporate cultures. Her initiatives result in significant cost savings and enhanced operational efficiencies, with past projects demonstrating savings in payroll costs and vendor negotiations that dramatically improve the bottom line.
Throughout her career, Dana has built and led human capital teams with a capacity to lead through change, and leverage technology like AI to optimize HR functions and drive strategic growth.

A lifelong learner and leader, Dana holds an MBA from Western Governors University, along with certifications in strategic AI leadership from MIT Sloan School of Business, and professional Senior Professional HR certifications with the Society of Human Resource Managers and the Human Resource Capital Institute.

Melene DeWilde is a business strategist specializing in the Human Resources discipline for 25 years. Melene has worked with hundreds of corporations from startups to struggling companies trying to gain back their momentum, to successful companies catapulting into their next phase of growth. Her clients’ range from a vast array of diverse industries including software, medical devices, construction, trucking, and hospitality including such brands as Clorox, Treasury Wine Estates, Morimoto’s restaurant brand in the US and abroad, Johnson & Johnson, Salesforce, NVIDIA, Wells Fargo and more. Melene’s extensive knowledge of human resources, operations and strategic business consulting has helped these and other companies in achieving positive ROI’s. Melene holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and a SPHR certification (Senior Professional in Human Resources). 

Maria Gurdian is a seasoned HR leader with over 25 years of experience across multiple industries including hospitality, retail, education, and manufacturing. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management. Throughout her career, Maria has demonstrated a successful history of providing hands-on solutions in areas such as strategic planning, talent acquisition, and performance management. She has a proven track record of opening HR departments for companies, facilitating growth from 150 to 450 employees. Maria has also excelled in managing transitions for publicly traded companies acquiring privately held ones, ensuring alignment with the new vision. Her expertise in change management and ability to work with employees at all levels makes her an invaluable asset to any organization. 

 Sarah Hermann, MBA, is a senior HR consultant with more than 25 years of experience leading complex human resources, labor relations, compensation, and workforce strategy initiatives across multiple industries, including healthcare, technology, non-profit, private sector and public-sector environments. She has deep multi-state HR expertise, with extensive hands-on experience in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska along with other western U.S. jurisdictions, as well as broader national and international experience. Sarah’s background includes HR leadership roles supporting union and non-union operations, conducting high-stakes workplace investigations, developing compensation systems, managing global and domestic recruiting strategies, and guiding organizations through organizational change, employee relations matters, and regulatory compliance. She has operated at both the strategic and operational levels, serving as a trusted advisor to executives, managers, and cross-functional teams.

Katie Burns has over a decade of experience in corporate finance and human resources. After

having spent the first 8 years in private equity, first as an Asset Manager at Royal Bank of Canada and a Portfolio Manager at KeyBank Debt Capital Markets, Katie found her passion for people in HR through some of her responsibilities while she was a VP at Red Stone Equity Partners. For the last 8 years, she has increased her HR focus through HR consulting. Part of that focus included payroll exclusively for several clients, recruiting for 3 years, and additional HR Generalist work with the Clearwater HR Consulting team.

Bryan Reese is a results-driven HR consultant with more than 17 years of experience helping small businesses and startups build strong, scalable people functions. Bryan brings a hands-on, business-first approach to HR consulting, talent acquisition, and career coaching.

Throughout his career, Bryan has built HR functions from the ground up and guided organizations through major transitions, including serving as VP of HR during the acquisition of tech start-up Virbela, where he grew staff by 85% in two and a half years through tailored strategies spanning talent acquisition, employee experience, DEI, and training and development. He has also served as VP of Employee Experience at eXp Realty and as a top-producing senior recruiter with Beacon Hill Financial.

Bryan is passionate about cultivating positive workplace cultures and helping companies retain their most valuable asset: their people. Based in the Greater Seattle area, he partners with business owners to deliver practical HR solutions that let them focus on growth instead of HR headaches.

 Montanna Washburn is a senior human resources leader with extensive experience supporting organizations through growth, change, and operational complexity. She brings a strong background in people operations, employee relations, payroll and benefits oversight, compliance, and organizational development, with particular experience in regulated and multi-state environments.

With 20 years of industry experience and a former Director in HR, Montanna partners closely with founders, executives, and leadership teams to build practical HR foundations that support both business needs and healthy workplace culture. Her experience spans a range of industries, including financial services, healthcare and wellness, legal and professional services, consumer brands, and growth-stage organizations.

She is currently pursuing her Juris Doctor, further strengthening her work at the intersection of human resources, compliance, and employment law. Montanna is known for her steady, thoughtful approach and her ability to bring clarity and structure to complex HR environments. 

 As the Founder of Clearwater HR Consulting, Sarah Chang leads the team having spent almost 20 years in HR. After spending years at large global corporations in HR in aerospace defense and public accounting, Sarah spent the last 10 years in HR consulting helping growing companies manage their people operations during their major inflection points. From lightning  paced tech startups with multiple global acquisitions in a single year to long privately held companies that never had HR for 20 years prior, Sarah has helped numerous companies navigate the challenges to build scalable people organizations with best in class work cultures. This means working hand in hand with C-suite leaders to ensure operational efficiency, financial stability, clear and effective team infrastructure, training effective leaders, efficient org design, and competitive compensation to attract and retain top talent and ensure companies have the best teams to ensure the highest possible top-line revenue. Sarah ensures Clearwater only provides the best HR leaders in the industry for companies that want to thrive in their niche industries.