Leon Cerna, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, ACC | President

LeonCerna@HRAdvantagegroup.com

Leon Cerna is a highly-skilled human resources professional with 20 years of experience in strategic management, employee relations, talent acquisitions, and training and development.

Leon’s interest in human resources was sparked by his childhood involvement with his family’s growing business where he learned the key elements of hiring, training, and effective conflict resolution from his parents.

These experiences taught Leon that the keys to creating a workplace that fosters employee engagement are effective management techniques and the ability to communicate a clear vision of future success. Leon instinctively understood these lessons and knew a career in human resources would offer the ideal platform for his developing interest.

Leon has held leadership roles in Fortune 15 and 300 companies and served in the public sector as a Chief HR Executive. He has provided strategic oversight of human resources departments and established foundations of respect, diplomacy, high ethical standards, and collaboration that have promoted the overall success of the organizations.

His exceptional skills have been sought after by a variety of councils, commissions, and committees including most recently the Personnel Merit Commission for the City and County of Broomfield. Leon’s philanthropic interests include mentoring and coaching recent college graduates who are entering the workforce.

Leon received his Bachelor of Science degree in Labor Relations Management from the University of the Pacific in northern California. He has a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designation and maintains an Advanced Certificate in Employee Relations Law from the Institute of Applied Management & Law.

Originally from Southern California, Leon now lives in Colorado and outside of work, enjoys spending time with his family, his dog, listening to jazz music, and playing golf where he carries a five handicap.

Jeni Blood, SPHR | Director of Client Services

JB@HRAdvantagegroup.com

Jeni is a proven human resources leader with 20 years’ experience leading national HR teams in the development, implementation and direction of compensation, recruiting, employee relations and services, HR management systems and employment law.  She is a collaborative team player who recognizes the value of individual contribution in support of overall business strategy and seeks to align HR practices with the mission and goals of the business.  Originally from Illinois, she began her career in Chicago serving the hospitality industry with a dual role in human resources and sales.  Human resources proved a natural fit as Jeni thrives when opportunity allows her to collaborate and provide solutions for businesses and people.   While in Chicago, she served an international law firm for many years where she led the human resources team nationally.  The primary elements of her role included support and guidance to management on employee relations, HR best practices firmwide, compensation and performance, policies and business structure, compliance with state and federal labor laws.

Jeni received her Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois and is member of SHRM locally and nationally.

She relocated to the Denver area with her family in 2014.  Jeni enjoys hiking her new home state, camping and skiing with family and friends.  Her passion is to travel to unique destinations and scuba dive.

Joseph Medina | Director of Talent Acquisition

JM@HRAdvantagegroup.com

Joseph has had a storied career spanning from the world of entertainment, utilities, and most recently, film journalism. In the latter industry, he served as editor-in-chief of the entertainment outlet LRM Online for nearly four years. Thankfully, his work in journalism allowed him to travel with his wife as her Ph.D. program sent her from one end of the country to the next.

In his time as editor-in-chief, Joseph learned the ins and outs of running what is effectively an upstart company with limited resources. While leading LRM Online, he grew the monthly users of the site, established a high bar of quality, and nurtured a pool of talented writers loyal to the LRM Online brand. His experience taught him the value of people and the time and effort required to get the right talent on board and develop their skills to help better the company as a whole.

And it is this aspect of his experience that drew Joseph to recruitment in the first place. In his years working at the website, he grew to realize how important it was not only to hire talented people, but to ensure they were a fit for the site’s culture, values, and overall vision. Without those key elements, it was difficult for workers to contribute meaningfully to the site’s long-term goals. At the end of the day, matching up an employee with the right company is not just a matter of aligning resumes with desired qualifications, but matching individual personalities and goals with company values and long-term objectives.

Joseph received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Screenwriting and a minor in Business from Chapman University in sunny Orange, California.

After traveling the United States over the years and supporting his wife’s successful pursuit of her Ph.D. in Psychology, Joseph finally settled down in beautiful Colorado. He enjoys hiking, reading, writing fantasy novels, and is currently trying his best to love cooking.

Domenica Ortega, MBA | Compensation Consultant

DO@HRAdvantagegroup.com

Domenica is an unprecedented professional with over 15 years of experience in Compensation, Benefits, Sales Compensation, Human Resources, Project Management and Payroll combined. She is a results-driven, self-motivated, team-oriented professional. Most importantly she loves to learn new skills and apply those skills to the ever-evolving realm of total rewards.

Domenica is known to collaborate and influence Leadership in Sales, HR, IT and Finance in terms of designs that drive revenue growth, whole and equitable compensation, and benefits by utilizing data analysis, and presentation skills that gain buy-in. She has created compensation and benefits structures, trained and coached employees, and improved information technology and operational processes for human resources, sales compensation, compensation, and benefits. Domenica has extensive experience in local government, non-profits, school districts, technology, and fin-tech industries. She has established an excellent reputation and is the go-to person for all thing’s total rewards.

Domenica earned her master’s in business administration with HR concentration degree from the University of Colorado, Denver, and her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of California Riverside. She has also been accredited as a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) by Scrum Alliance and has utilized the agile methodologies mastered in SaaS performance management systems implementations. Domenica is currently earning her Data Analyst certification from General Assembly and refining her Excel, SQL, and Tableau data visualization skills so to improve presentation visualization in her current compensation projects.

Domenica is an active participant in the Latino community. She is part of a team of family members from underrepresented communities and educators that collaborate to support the success and well-being of students and improve family members connection with their school.

These include:

• Latino Parent Advisor Council (CAPL), Boulder Valley School District
• Families and Educators Together (FET), Boulder High School
• Cal wood Education Center, Jamestown Colorado

Domenica is originally from Los Angeles and has lived in Colorado for over 13 years. She enjoys camping, hiking, fishing, rafting and spending time with her family over a campfire making smores. She loves taking walks to Waneka Lake in Lafayette, CO and spending time with her mountain friends in Jamestown.