Karen Karp & Partners—founded in 1990 as a consultancy working at the intersection of food, agriculture, and health—added recruiting and human resources services as a practice area in 2006. Led by Dick Batten, our Good People division emerged from the recognition that the organizations, programs, and businesses KK&P worked with needed more than just robust research, planning, and recommendations to be successful. They needed good people and the right people.
Since then, KK&P has placed some hundreds of people in positions around the country, in a broad range of agriculture, food, and health-related industries and sectors, including hunger relief organizations, farms, trade associations, food manufacturers, health care providers, and food and farm policy and education organizations.
Our recruiting practice is informed by three principles. First, we are thought partners for our clients, which means being available, analytical, candid, and collaborative. Recruiting is most successful when we and our clients have open, regular, and strategic conversations about the needs and values of the organization, the framing of the position being filled, and the potential impacts of the hire. This dialogue builds trust and improves the effectiveness and speed of our search.
Second, our recruiting team has real-world operations experience in companies and organizations of varying sizes and sectors. Before founding KK&P, Karen Karp launched, managed, and grew several restaurants in New York and since then has advised hundreds of businesses and non-profit organizations on strategy. Dick Batten was Polaroid’s VP of Human Resources for twenty years and continues to work as a fractional HR director to select clients. Christophe Hille has been a managing partner in three food sector businesses, and in the process, has developed products, teams, and brands.
Finally, our research-based approach stems from our cumulative decades of experience as consultants working to support and strengthen food systems initiatives, agricultural organizations, and healthcare providers. Recruiting for us is a structured, informed, and comprehensive process with the deliverable top-of-mind—the best possible person for the position at hand. Our interview methods help us and our clients know what makes individual applicants tick and understand the overall candidate landscape.
The core of our Good People work has long been in recruiting and placing key talent for leadership positions, as well as providing organizational assessments, performance management services, and professional coaching to new recruits and executives. Prominent placements in the past several years have included a new CEO for Brooklyn Grange, a Director of Regenerative Agriculture at Carnation Farms, Chief Technology Officer at Open Door Care Network, and a Chief of Staff and a Human Resources Director at Citymeals.
Looking to the evolving work landscape for the clients we serve, we recognize many challenges. The COVID pandemic sparked a workplace sea-change—employee priorities about where, why, and how they work are different today from just five years ago. Leaders are still figuring out the optimal balance between organizational cohesion and employee autonomy. The domestic policy landscape is changing at a rapid pace, creating uncertainty for companies, institutions, and labor markets. AI and other digital technologies are impacting everything from desk jobs to manual ones and will continue to redefine work in the years to come.
This changing environment also creates opportunities—to reshape workforces, to develop people for new roles and responsibilities, and to build resilience within organizations of every size across agriculture, food, and health. Our expanded team capacity brings broad professional expertise to every assignment. Please reach out to us to discuss your organizational and recruiting needs.