Biography

Michael Kennard | Biography

Michael is a man forever in search of the next adventure. After college, he spent three fire seasons working with the US Forest Service in Northern California. As a member of the Feather River Hand Crew and the Lassen Hotshots, he fought over 50 fires across California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. And while working a fire in Southern Colorado, he even chased a small spot fire across the Colorado-New Mexico stateline, so you can add New Mexico to that list as well. 

After leaving the US Forest Service, Michael transitioned into social services, working with Focus Employment Services, a community agency service based in Phoenix, Arizona. Driven by a passion for helping, he embraced the agency’s mission of helping people with disabilities return to the world of work. His work at Focus brought him immense personal satisfaction, and provided sobering insight into the structural and personal challenges faced by Americans with disabilities. 

The insight that he gleaned as a practitioner provided a unique and valuable perspective, and his expertise was sought out by Triple R Behavioral Health, a Phoenix-based not-for-profit, where he served on the Board of Directors. Ultimately, he helped oversee the strategic merger between Triple R & NAFI, a move that resulted in the creation of a new business entity, Lifewell. 

Next, Michael joined the staff of the Thunderbird School of Global Management’s Career Management Center (CMC). During his tenure there, he served as a critical liaison between the CMC and its professional student associations, alumni, and corporate recruiting partners. As one of the world’s top schools for international business, it was at Thunderbird that he truly honed his cross-cultural communication skills, and developed an expertise for building networks and coalitions with global partners. 

While on a business development trip to San Francisco, Michael met with Slalom Consulting in hopes of forging a recruiting partnership between Thunderbird and Slalom. At the time, Slalom was in the process of expanding its operations into the Silicon Valley, and was actively building the team to spearhead their market entry. Absolutely thrilled by the prospect of helping one of the world’s top technology consulting firms establish itself in the hub of innovation, Palo Alto, California, Michael joined Slalom’s Talent Acquisition team, initially responsible for all hiring into their Delivery Leadership practice. Over time, his responsibilities grew, and he eventually assumed the role of Slalom Silicon Valley’s TA Market Leader, where he led a team of 4, and was responsible for all hiring within the market. In 2023, the decision was made to merge the three Slalom Northern California offices (East Bay, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley) and Mike was selected to lead the newly formed Northern California Talent Acquisition Team. It was a major milestone for him, as he assumed leadership of a team of 13 recruiters, responsible for supporting all recruiting efforts for Slalom’s 5th largest global office. He continues in that role. 

Outside of the office, Michael enjoys freelance writing, and has written articles for Backpacker, Boys’ Life, Climbing and FUEL.TV. 

An entrepreneur by heart, he has also founded and developed six websites: HotshotFitness.com, SARFitness.com, WildlandFireJobs.com, JobDevelopmentLab.com, HireLikeASpy.com, and JobSearchHacker. All six sites are profitable, and continue to see healthy growth in site visitors and ad revenue. 

Besides growing businesses, Michael also enjoys global travel, and is rapidly approaching visiting his 30th country. 

When he isn’t working or traveling, Michael enjoys endurance sports, and has completed a ToughMudder race, a GORUCK Challenge, and a half-marathon. He is currently training to complete his first marathon in 2024 and plans to summit Mt. Shasta this year as well.

Michael holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, and a BA in English Literature & Philosophy from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He is an actively certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR).  

Specialties:

  • Strategic Communications
  • Website Development
  • Organizational Development
  • Workshop Facilitation
  • DiSC Training
  • Leadership Development 
  • Talent Management
  • Talent Acquisition
  • Campus Recruiting
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Public Speaking
  • Career Counseling
  • Business Development
  • Speech writing
  • Consulting

Industry Experience:

  • Higher Education
  • Management Consulting
  • Social Services
  • Healthcare
  • Technology
  • Public Sector Emergency Services

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