BROOKFIELD, Wis., Jan. 31, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Pinstripe, a leading recruitment process outsourcing and recruitment services firm, announced today the establishment of a specialized healthcare group. Under the direction of newly appointed Executive Vice President Jill Schwieters, the Healthcare Group will assist healthcare providers, clinical laboratories, medical equipment manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms and other medical and healthcare organizations in addressing the ongoing challenges of recruitment, utilization and retention of highly qualified healthcare staff.
"Recruiting and retaining top talent is today's number one challenge throughout the healthcare industry," says Schwieters. "Organizations across the country are grappling with shrinking supply and growing demand for specialized healthcare, scientific talent and biotech workers, with fewer and fewer resources available to get these employees in place. In most areas, the healthcare labor market is so competitive that it comes down to who can get to the top talent most quickly, putting a real strain on employers and their HR departments."
In recruitment process outsourcing, healthcare organizations entrust the tactical processes and day-to-day management of recruiting employees to specialized service providers such as Pinstripe. "Because of Pinstripe's substantial investments in state-of-the-art technology, best-in-class processes, and experienced HR professionals, we are able to manage this function faster, more efficiently, and at a lower cost than healthcare organizations can accomplish on their own," Schwieters said. "Unlike temporary staffing agencies that thrive on workforce shortages, we provide cost-effective solutions for staying on top of staffing needs that can change daily."
Schwieters was formerly Regional Vice President of Human Resources at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, a leading healthcare provider with nearly 25,000 employees in four states. In this role, she provided strategic and operational direction for HR services, including large-scale professional recruiting and contingent staffing management. With nearly two decades of experience in the healthcare industry, Schwieters is a leading authority on talent acquisition, strategic staffing, labor productivity and utilization, and is an expert in organizational, people, and process design.
Having served as a member of the executive cabinet for two major healthcare systems, Schwieters has provided strategic leadership in the areas of workforce planning, labor productivity, joint ventures, consolidations, job redesign, recruitment, retention, benefit analysis and performance management. She has also designed numerous programs which enhance employee relations, quality of work life and recognition. The result was improved employee engagement, alignment and retention.
"Jill brings the right mix of strategic, operational and management experience to help healthcare clients succeed in getting the right talent on board and quickly engaged in their work," says Susan Marks, Pinstripe's chairman and CEO. "We are extremely excited about our expanded focus on healthcare and look forward to aggressive growth and innovation under Jill's leadership."
About Pinstripe
An innovator in recruitment and employment process outsourcing, Pinstripe designs, builds and manages talent management systems for healthcare and financial services organizations. The company's proprietary Requisition-to-Results (R2R)(tm) platform is the first solution of its kind to integrate recruiting, hiring, on-boarding, and off-boarding practices into a complete, end-to-end outsourced approach to employee acquisition and retention. By partnering with Pinstripe, clients are able to maximize the economic, operational, and strategic benefits of a high performing workforce, while minimizing compliance, security and other risks.
Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Pinstripe was co-founded by Susan Marks and Anne Nimke, both 25-year industry veterans who previously established two successful HR staffing and HR outsourcing companies, ProStaff and HRfirst, which were sold to Kelly Services in 2000. Baird Venture Partners, the U.S.-based venture capital affiliate of investment firm Robert W. Baird & Co., is a major investor in Pinstripe. For more information about Pinstripe, please visit www.pinstripetalent.com.
About Baird Global Private Equity
With more than 40 investment professionals in the United States and Europe, Baird's global private equity business has raised and managed $1.5 billion in capital. Baird Capital Partners provides change-of-control capital and growth capital to U.S.-based, middle-market companies in the Business Services and Manufactured Products sectors. Baird Venture Partners makes venture capital investments in early- to growth-stage companies in the Business Services & Software and Healthcare/Life Sciences sectors. Granville Baird Capital Partners is a long-established private equity manager targeting mid-market growth companies in the U.K. and Germany with a focus on the Business Services, Healthcare and Industrial Products sectors. Baird Private Equity also has an operating team located in three offices in China, focused on facilitating and executing Asia sourcing, manufacturing and distribution opportunities for portfolio companies. The group's investments are supported by Baird's full range of financial advice, operating expertise and industry research, providing a unique full-service approach to the entire private equity investment process. For more information, please visit www.bairdventurepartners.com.