Skip To Content

Our
Company

At RAI, our team is our greatest strength. Our organization includes some of the best critical thinkers and impact creators in the employment industry. And our collective experiences in both recruiting (search firm and corporate talent management) and human resources bring our clients significant, measurable results. We take great pride in consistently delivering talent-acquisition and HR-consulting services that routinely exceed our client’s expectations.

RAI Resources employee headshot of Robert Austin, an HR consultant
Robert Austin
President and HR Employee Life Cycle Strategist
Contact
About Robert Austin

Bob is a seasoned HR professional with a high-level understanding of the inner workings of employment strategies. He knows that staying competitive requires tactical focus, coupled with a highly motivated and productive workforce that has a diversity of skills, a unified vision and a growth mindset. His proven methods of success have been fully integrated here at RAI, as he serves as both counsel and strategist for our HR Consulting Services team. With a long history working for both corporate and privately owned businesses, Bob has held several leadership roles in human resources management, focusing on many aspects of workforce oversight, including: compensation and benefits administration, diversity and inclusion training, employee relations, organizational development and outplacement. His HR management experience and skills were honed in several different industries, including manufacturing, supply chain and distribution, construction and engineering.

In addition to his HR acumen, Bob also brings his impressive recruiting talents to RAI. Previously, he served as Director of North American Recruiting for AMEC Foster Wheeler, where he was able to bring much needed structure and focus to the company’s talent management—no easy task within the engineering, construction, manufacturing and energy markets’  high-volume world of recruiting. Bob has also helped global leaders, such as ABB and Siemens, in this capacity. These experiences have allowed Bob to fuse proven corporate recruiting and employee-development models with classic search-firm recruiting methodologies. The results offer a practical, real-world perspective on what employers want in their employees, not just as candidates, but also as long-term contributors to the organizations that they serve.

RAI Resources employee headshot of Richard Lively, President of HR consulting
Richard Lively
Partner and Vice President of HR Consulting Services
Contact
About Richard Lively

Leading our HR consulting team, Dick brings our small and mid-sized clients unparalleled experience in human resources operational management. His career is highlighted with regional, national and global HR achievements that have given him in-depth understanding of employment issues and needs on every level. As former Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Wood Group, (Amec Foster Wheeler), Dick has extensive experience in managing and developing HR teams, as well as handling issues, projects and functions in both practical and forward-thinking ways. His approach to HR is focused on positively and holistically impacting a company’s culture, productivity and bottom line.

Dick has a sensible and equitable approach toward HR management, from basic HR support services to critical workforce management issues and oversight that always keeps our clients’ best interests as the top priority. Whether helping companies develop programs around current-events-related issues, such as unconscious bias and cultural sensitivity, or addressing issues involving regulatory HR concerns, Dick is a crucial asset to our clients—both those with and without in-house HR teams. He expertise brings an immediate and valuable contribution to every project, and in particular key HR programs, including  compensation and benefits planning to help attract and retain employees. His background includes serving in engineering, construction, manufacturing, logistics, and commercial and industrial support industries, as well as in professional-services sectors. In addition to being certified in the DDI approach to individual assessment and leadership training, Dick’s nuanced and thoughtful approaches help our clients avoid costly missteps while staying competitive.

RAI Resources employee headshot of Michael Strum, VP of recruiting services
Michael Strum
Partner and Vice President of Recruiting Services
Contact
About Michael Strum

Mike has been at the forefront of RAI’s growth as a premier provider of recruiting services to organizations of all sizes and in a wide array of industries. He started with RAI as a full-desk recruiter early in his career and rose to partner status in only a few short years through his impressive volume of placement success. He has been instrumental in developing internal, targeted market development strategies, sourcing techniques, and candidate-development processes. He also builds strong partnerships with individuals and corporations in outplacement and career consulting activities, providing an authentic connection and a hands-on approach to these processes. Personal relationship development with both clients and candidates has allowed Mike to execute fine-pointed search strategies that have resulted in an unprecedented number of successful searches throughout his stellar career. His knowledge and experience within the OEM, power-generation, oil-and-gas and industrial markets is expansive.

When it comes to candidate sourcing, Mike has built an extensive network and has developed precise skills. His truly understands our clients’ needs and has a clear focus on the “quality of candidates” vs. “quantity of candidates” has allowed him to maintain a solid, longstanding client base. Michael dives into each search with the highest degrees of energy, integrity and professionalism. He understands that all positions, regardless of level or pay grade, are important to our clients, and therefore, important to us.

RAI Resources employee headshot of Madeleine (Gonzalez) Elmgren, an HR consultant
Madeleine (Gonzalez) Elmgren
Sr. Consultant, Outplacement & Career Coaching
Contact
About Madeleine (Gonzalez) Elmgren

Madeleine leads RAI’s Outplacement and Career Coaching Services. After a successful professional career in various leadership roles at Hewlett Packard and Wang Laboratories, she established her own personalized career coaching practice, MEcoaching365, to help others successfully navigate career challenges and work transitions.

As an established career coach and outplacement specialist, Madeleine provides a safe, comfortable environment where clients can discuss and explore career concerns, challenges and goals. Through a collaborative client-coach relationship and a deep respect for the individual, she teaches clients the skills they need to move ahead in their careers and achieve their goals. Her empathy and genuine desire to help others brings a unique perspective to RAI’s Outplacement and Coaching.  By focusing on the specific needs of each client, Madeleine ensures everyone feels respected and valued as they tackle career challenges.

RAI Resources employee headshot of Rich Pagano, an HR consultant
Rich Pagano
Sr. Consultant, Human Resources Management
Contact
About Rich Pagano

Rich is RAI’s HR start-up specialist, and he brings to the team tremendous experience in evaluating employee resources and developing strategic growth plans for these newly founded organizations, as well as for more established businesses. He also specializes in the investigation and resolution of employee disciplinary conflicts. His approach always focuses on presenting solutions aimed at preventing the escalation of difficulties between employees, and between employees and management. In addition, Rich also has expertise in identifying and creating career development programs for high-potential employees within organizations, and his contributions in this realm have lead to some of his most rewarding achievements in workforce development and retention. His experience also includes developing and presenting training programs for management and executives in such topics as successful candidate selection techniques and effective management best practices. Providing engaging and relatable training, rather than academic lecturing, allows Rich to deliver real solutions to today’s most changing employer issues.

Rich held human resources leadership positions with several multi-national corporations, including OKI Electric, Siemens and General Electric. While he is experienced in diverse industries, including medical device production, communications and consumer electronics manufacturing, Rich’s skills are very scalable, and he is committed to providing practical and modern HR consulting support to businesses of all sizes.

RAI Resources employee headshot of Margo Trott Collins, an HR consultant
Margo Trott Collins
Sr. Consultant, Employer Branding & Digital Content
Contact
About Margo Trott Collins

Margo is a seasoned employer branding and content marketing specialist who has worked extensively in the field of human resources. She is also a nationally published writer, editor and blogger who has collaborated with ZipRecruiter, TopResume, 2U, myHR Partner, City Center Allentown (formerly City Center Lehigh Valley), Vaughan Communications Group, Plantique, Rodale Press Books, Prevention Magazine, Men’s Health Magazine, The Morning Call, U.S. News & World Report and more. With over two decades of writing, digital marketing and HR blogging experience under her belt, Margo brings a deep understanding of the modern, year-round cycle of recruiting, and how employer brand and voice play an important role. She helps us create content and strategies that interweave our clients’ long-term hiring needs with their need for strong employee retention, productivity and satisfaction.