About Talent Alliance, Inc.
Based in Austin, Texas and Shanghai, China,
Talent Alliance, Inc. provides talent management
and talent acquisition technology applications
and resources in the United States and The
People's Republic of China. Talent Alliance
provides world class permanent placement
recruiting, contingent staffing, employee
leasing and benefits management services, and
proprietary talent acquisition technology
solutions to small, medium sized businesses and
multi-national corporations in the United States
and the People's Republic of China. The Company
currently has offices in Texas, Florida,
California, and Shanghai, China with over 1,050
employees worldwide.
What we do
Our service offerings are primarily divided into
one of 5 categories:
Employee Leasing and Benefits Management
Our employee leasing and benefits management
business is centered on the concept of driving
HR costs down for employers. We manage payroll
processing, employee benefits, employer tax and
federal tax filings, and offer insurance
coverage via our group policies. The payroll
administration services include record keeping,
making payroll tax deposits, reporting payroll
taxes and related matters. This results in much
lower costs to employers as they not only do not
need to manage this process but also it
generally yields much lower state unemployment
rates and workers compensation coverage which
reduces net payroll costs. We generally charge
fees for these services in the form of a per
payroll fee, per employee, per check or per
report fee. The subsidiary company has been
providing these services since 1989.
Contingent Staffing Services
Our contingent staffing services business
provides temporary or permanent workers to
businesses worldwide. Our staffing services
generally hire the employee full time and then
“lease” them out to client companies for an
increased margin of profit. We generally manage
the payroll and benefits of the employee,
however the client usually directs the employee
in his or her daily responsibilities. We provide
the services to companies in the manufacturing,
technology, offshore development centers,
finance and accounting fields. These engagements
may be temporary for reasons of seasonality,
manufacturing cycles, co-employment or may be
long term in nature. The subsidiary company has
been providing these services since 1996.
Military Transition Job Placement
Military transition job placement services are
provided through our wholly owned subsidiary
Soar Consulting, Inc. Soar Consulting
specializes in military transition jobs,
matching transitioning junior military officers
(JMOs) and enlisted leaders and technicians with
some of America's top companies interested in
recruiting candidates with developmental
potential.
Soar’s unique structure for military transition
differentiates SOAR from other JMO recruiters
because our leadership team works personally
with candidates (JMO, enlisted, and technical)
and client corporations. As America’s fastest
growing military recruitment firm, SOAR
Consulting is committed to exceeding the
expectations of their military candidates and
their client corporations. With a customer list
that includes Fortune 500 members and emerging
growth companies, SOAR Consulting sources talent
from the military to match specific skill sets
within civilian companies.
In addition to traditional candidate
presentation; Soar provides unique Focused
Hiring Events™ whereby candidates are brought to
client’s facilities for on-site interviews and
location tours. This provides the perfect
opportunity to conduct all necessary
interviewing, testing, and administer any
drug/background tests. Soar Consulting has been
providing these services since 2002.
Permanent Placement Recruiting
Permanent placement recruiting matches open
positions from our clients with our screened
candidates. These positions are generally hired
to a full time basis by the client and we are
paid a consulting or recruiting placement fee.
Our subsidiary has been providing these services
since 1996.
Technology Services
TalentExchange® (www.ustalentexchange.com)
is an online marketplace built to streamline the
talent acquisition cycle for employers and
increase efficiencies recruiting vendors. The
system simplifies the complex processes
currently faced by employers and recruitment
firms alike by utilizing the most advanced
technology available to the recruiting industry
and links employers with the marketplace in one
seamless environment. The TalentExchange® is an
intuitive and innovative system that is
dramatically changing the talent acquisition
process both domestically and abroad. The system
offers significant value to employers in terms
of cost and resource savings as well as dramatic
process improvement, and to recruiters in terms
of increased market penetration and access to a
broad level of clients and open job orders
across a large geographic and industry area
without the need for additional marketing.
Talent Alliance also provides an enterprise
version of the TalentExchange® for custom and
large corporate environments, known as the
Talent Alliance Vendor Management Solution
(“VMS”). The system supports the permanent
placement recruiting and contract worker hiring,
management and reporting. The VMS is a
web-based, or hosted application that acts as a
fluid medium for business to manage and procure
staffing and recruiting services. The VMS
enables clients to reduce their hiring costs by
managing and standardizing the process by which
companies hire personnel. The VMS offers
consolidating billing, expense tracking,
interview management, requisition posting,
process reporting, onboarding, and universal
requirement management, Vendor and recruiter
rating capacity and analysis of time to hire and
system strengths and weaknesses. The system
drastically out-performs manual systems and
processes.
How
it works:
1.
Employers/Clients and Recruiting Vendors
Register
–
Most Clients will bring their existing Vendors
with them upon registration (Legacy Vendors).
Legacy Vendors will only be charged a small
transaction fee for their first year of
placements with their referring Client. Non‐Legacy
vendors also register to gain access to Client
relationships they would not typically develop
on their own.
2.
Employers Post Job Vacancies
‐
Employers post a job description on
TalentExchange® and offer an award (as a flat
fee or percentage of salary). The award
represents the amount employers will pay the
recruiter who finds them the right candidate to
fill the job.
3.
Engagement –
Vendors select Job postings they can fill from
their candidate talent pool and send a request
to the client to be approved for submission of
candidates to all this client’s postings.
Clients accept or reject the engagement request
based on the Vendor rating, statistics, and
industry specialty found in the Vendor Profile.
4.
Submissions Review‐
Employers review resumes and interview
candidates. Recruiters can communicate with
employers through the Talent Exchange messaging
system to help them find their perfect
candidate.
5.
Employer Hires Candidate –
Once
the Client hires a candidate a notification is
sent to the Vendor.
6.
Employer Awards Recruiter
‐
On
the candidate’s start date, TalentExchange®
invoices the employer for the stated award. The
employer pays TalentExchange® and they hold the
funds in escrow. TalentExchange® will refund the
full award to the employer if the candidate does
not stay with the client for the guarantee
period. After the 90 day guarantee period,
TalentExchange® will pay the Vendor their
portion of the fee and retain 25% for services
rendered.
These five general service offerings focus on
two key elements of the
HR services industry, Talent Acquisition and
Talent Management, as
such these are our cornerstones.
Future Service Offerings on 2008 and beyond:
In 2008 we plan to offer offshore development
services. We expect to expand our service
offering to Vietnam and Australia in 2009.
The History
The operational company was founded in 1996 to
provide technology outsourcing and contingent
staffing services under the name Computer
Engineering Organization, Inc. In 2007 the
Company began doing business under the name
Talent Alliance in response to the globalization
of the Company’s offerings and expansion of its
service offerings outside of the high-technology
industry contingent-staffing arena. Initially,
the operating business was founded to offer
contingent staffing services and software
development outsourcing in the United States.
Over the years the Company added permanent
placement recruiting to this suite of offerings.
Through strategic mergers and acquisitions the
Company has grown to add professional military
transition recruiting and job placement service
and employee leasing services in the last two
years.
In 2007 we established an office in Shanghai,
China via a foreign invested joint venture. We
spent the majority of 2007 continuing to develop
our proprietary software platforms in China with
the expectation to launch those offerings, and
our normal services offerings, in early 2008,
which we have done. We currently have an
operational business in China and our software
is deployed in several local and multi-national
corporations in China. We expect to focus the
remainder of 2008 on the growth of this portion
our business. We are continuing to grow our
brand via organic growth and strategic
acquisitions in the United States and in China.
Competition
The human resource marketplace is a highly
competitive and fragmented industry that is
poised for enormous growth in the next 10 years
as companies and countries around the world
invest in their human resources infrastructure.
The 2008 Global CAGR estimated growth rate is
around 15% annually. The human capital
marketplace is a multi-hundred billion dollar
industry encompassing tens of thousands of
suppliers selling hundreds of different products
and services including recruitment and staffing,
employee benefits, payroll, training and
development and more. There is a significant
amount of competition in the marketplace for the
Company’s products and services.
Management feels that it has a significant
competitive advantage in size, pricing, services
offerings and speed of deployment in China at
the current time, however, there are many global
players who offer very similar products and
services entering the Chinese market already and
are more still entering the United States market
– where competition is already significant.
Recent Key Announcements
October 14, 2008 –
Talent Alliance Announces New CFO –
AUSTIN, Texas
(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Talent Alliance, Inc.
(Pink Sheets: TLAN) announced today that the
Company has hired Steve Sefcik as its Chief
Financial Officer.
"The addition of Steve Sefcik to our team is
invaluable as he has extensive experience in
creating financial operations for fast growing
companies," said Brian Davis, CEO of Talent
Alliance. "Steve's ability to institute control
systems and develop a team of professional
financial service administrators will be a key
component of our growth strategy."
Mr. Sefcik has over 30 years of experience in
business and has worked in the banking,
consulting and public accounting industries.
Most recently Mr. Sefcik served as the Chief
Financial Officer at Drilling Info from April
2006 until May 2008. In addition to his
responsibilities at headquarters he provided
financial and administrative oversight for its
production subsidiary in Matamoros, Mexico. He
was also recently active in private consulting
after forming Stephen G. Sefcik, PLLC, providing
management consulting to early stage companies
in the areas of strategy, finance, accounting
and operations management.
Mr. Sefcik has also held positions in the CPA
firm of Montemayor & Associates where he served
on the audit staff, and as the Vice President
and Manager of E-Commerce at H.F. Ahmanson. At
Ahmanson, his principle activities were strategy
development and project management for the newly
emerging internet and e-commerce fields. Prior
to public accounting and consulting, he enjoyed
a successful career in commercial banking, and
has worked at State Street Bank and Trust
Company, Security Pacific Bank, Bank of America
and Mellon Financial Corporation.
"I am thrilled to be part of such a vibrant
organization with dynamic plans for future
growth," said Sefcik. "I am especially excited
about working with such a talented leadership
team that share in a unified global vision."
Mr. Sefcik received his BS degree in Economics
and Finance from The Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in
Entrepreneurship and Marketing from the
University of Southern California. He also holds
a Professional Designation in International
Trade and Commerce from UCLA and is a Certified
Treasury Professional (CTP). Steve is a member
of the Texas Society of CPAs and the Association
of Financial Professionals.
October 7, 2008 - Talent Alliance Announces New
Client Contracts -
Talent Alliance, Inc. announced that the Company
has added Wal-Mart and Kawasaki to its client
list. Along with these household names the
company had made significant inroads into the
Oil and Gas and Alternative Energy sectors with
the addition of several new clients.
Wal-Mart chose to use Talent Alliance's direct
placement military transition services in order
to augment their leadership development program.
By providing the highly sought after
transitioning Junior Military Officers (JMOs) in
a direct recruiting model, Talent Alliance was
able to help Wal-Mart increase their recruiting
and talent acquisition efficiencies and decrease
their time away from the office on costly
recruiting trips.
Talent Alliance has also recently become the
primary talent acquisition resource for
Kawasaki's Rail Division in their recruitment of
skilled technicians and engineering managers
throughout the Northeast.
The company has also experienced growth in the
rapidly expanding Oil and Gas and Alternative
Energy industries with the recent addition of
clients such as: Petron, TD Williamson, USEC,
National Oilwell Varco, Berry Petroleum, GMZ
Resources, Cupertino Electric, and Gate
Petroleum. "Our successful penetration into
these expanding markets is testament to our
ability to adjust to talent acquisition needs
across several markets. Unlike many recruitment
firms, we focus not on specific industries; but
rather, on the most sought after candidate pools
that shape the industry," said Jeff Williams, VP
of Recruiting.
September 29, 2008 - Talent Alliance Subsidiary,
Sour Consulting, Increases Sales Presence -
America’s Fastest Growing Military Recruitment
Firm Continues to Capture Market Share -
Talent Alliance, Inc. (Pink Sheets: TLAN)
announced that the Company's wholly owned
subsidiary, Soar Consulting, has increased its
field sales presence by 58% with the completion
of its Rapid Deployment sales training class for
new Account Executives. The new recruiting class
has already begun to positively impact revenue
generation for the Company.
The week-long training class was conducted by
Talent Alliance VP of Sales Chris Beck and
Director of Recruiting Jeff Williams. "This
group of Account Executives is by far the most
talented group of sales representatives that we
have onboarded in the history of our business.
We expect them to immediately inject new
accounts into our client base and make
significant revenue contributions," said Beck.
"The business development training and specific
recruiting skills covered in the SOAR Rapid
Deployment training was the most in-depth,
intense sales training I have ever experienced,"
said Greg Wilson, one of the new SOAR Account
Executives. Wilson, a graduate of the United
States Naval Academy and former Marine Corps
helicopter pilot, recently joined SOAR after
leaving Takeda Pharmaceuticals as a Senior
Professional Sales Representative where he
earned several performance awards and graduated
from their highly selective Leadership
Development Program.
Jeff Williams said, "The caliber of our Account
Executives is the driving force that fuels our
growth and allows us to provide world class
service to our clients across multiple
industries. These new Account Executives not
only increase our field presence, they also
strengthen our collective depth of experience
which in turn adds value to our candidates,
clients, and shareholders."
Soar Consulting is America's fastest growing
military recruitment firm and maintains a
customer list that includes Fortune 500 members
and emerging growth companies. Soar Consulting
sources talent from the military to match
specific skill sets within civilian companies.
For more information please visit
www.soarcareers.com.
Management
Brian Davis - Chief Executive Officer
Brian is currently the Chief Executive Officer
for the company’s worldwide operations. Formerly
the CEO and co-founder of Soar Consulting, which
was acquired by Talent Alliance in 2008, he has
been in the talent acquisition and HR services
space for the last 11 years. Brian earned a BS
degree from Towson State University and an MBA
from National University, which he earned while
still on active duty with the Marine Corps.
Brian achieved top sales recognition in the
medical device industry and then moved on to
graduate from a Leadership Development Program
with a Forbes Platinum company where he held
various senior management positions.
Stephen Sefcik – Chief Financial Officer
Steve has over 30 years of experience in
business and financial space, and has worked in
the banking, consulting and public accounting
industries. He began his career in corporate
banking as a credit analyst and worked
extensively as a financial management consultant
with banking institutions on both the East and
West Coasts. Mr. Sefcik has also held senior
positions at State Street Bank and Trust
Company, Security Pacific Bank, Bank of America
and Mellon Financial Corporation.
Tony Yang – Chief Information Officer
A native of Beijing China, Mr. Yang is an
experienced senior manager and information
technology professional. Previous to his
position with Talent Alliance Mr. Yang was the
CEO and Co-Founder of Differential Technology,
Inc. a Dallas Texas based high-tech company from
October 2003 until October 2006. During this
period Mr. Yang was also a Senior Technology
Consultant for the Turner Corporation from July
2004 until May of 2007. Previous to his position
at Turner and Differential he was a Senior
Technical Consultant for McCallion Cantrell, LLC
from June 2000 to June 2002. During this period
Mr. Yang was managed a myriad of challenging
technical and business problems.
Chris Beck - SVP of Global Business Development
Chris currently manages the Company’s worldwide
sales and business development efforts. He is
the former SVP of Sales and co-founder for Soar
consulting, which Talent Alliance acquired in
2008. Chris earned his BS degree from the United
States Naval Academy with Merit and served five
years as a Naval Supply Corps Officer onboard an
aircraft carrier. Upon leaving active duty in
the Navy, Chris joined the nation's largest
direct placement military recruiting firm as an
Account Executive. He quickly became the #1
Account Executive in the company. His success
led to several rapid promotions to District
Manager, Regional Manager, National Sales
Training Manager, and Director of Strategic
Accounts prior to his decision to co-found Soar
Consulting. Chris is a tenured executive who has
trained and developed hundreds of new business
development representatives in the recruitment
industry.
Matthew Cartwright – Chairman, Board of
Directors
Matt was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of
the company and has transitioned recently to the
position of Chairman of the Board. In addition
to his responsibilities at Talent Alliance, he
and also maintains a position as a senior
executive and officer of a vehicle logistics
company, United Road Services, Inc. which is the
2nd largest vehicle logistics company in the
United States. . Matt served with United Parcel
Service (UPS) in operations and engineering
capacities. Matt has significant experience in
the technology and logistics industries and
possesses a unique command of business expertise
that has enabled him to create value in the
various positions he has served in many large
multinational companies. His direct interaction
with multiple Fortune 10 companies has provided
insight and perspective into the global markets
as they exist and how they are evolving
Jeremy Stobie – Treasurer, Board of Directors
Jeremy is responsible for the strategic
financial operations and strategic direction of
the company as well as personally representing
the Company in the mergers and acquisitions
space. Jeremy’s experience in securities,
private equity and corporate finance has given
him a broad knowledge base in international
business and finance. In addition to his
responsibilities with Talent Alliance he
maintains the position of Senior Partner in a
large and well diverse CPA and consulting
practice in Austin, and is also a licensed CPA.
Jeremy has over 5 years experience in the direct
operation, acquisition and financing of
businesses in China. He is the former Managing
Shareholder and principal owner of Beacon
Capital Inc., an investment advisory and
international investment banking practice which
was sold in 2004. Jeremy has served as the Chief
Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer for
various companies worldwide.
