Founding Team
Rebecca Medina, PMP®
Founder & CEO
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Rebecca is an East Los Angeles, California native and former student of Jaime Escalante, the inspiring Garfield High School AP Calculus educator featured in the movie Stand and Deliver. His positive and upbeat character, heart to serve others, and emphasis on "Ganas" (translates to "desire") continue to inspire her. She was part of the cast of "Futures" a popular math series featuring Mr. Escalante, his AP Calculus students, and a variety of celebrities, including Edward James Olmos, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Cindy Crawford.
She relocated to Northern California to attend Stanford University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English. She is a PMP® certified Project Management Professional with over 25 years of hands-on experience managing complex information technology portfolios, primarily in the Telecommunications and Software industries. She is fluent in diverse development and project methodologies including Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and Theory of Contraints (ToC) / Critical Chain.
Rebecca has extensive experience launching new Project Management Offices and leading senior program teams in the delivery of successful technical products and services. Her passion for the customer experience fuels her core values of humility, integrity, trust and transparency, which are the cornerstones of TalentCheetah’s business culture.
A strong advocate for community engagement and servant leadership, Rebecca has served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for juveniles in the foster care system, a preschool Sunday School teacher, a project management mentor, a career counselor to economically disadvantaged women, and an academic advisor to at-risk youth.
She resides in Silicon Valley, CA with her husband, TalentCheetah’s Technical Advisor, Rich Medina, and their son Adam.
Jeff Phillips, PMP®
Co-Founder
Chief Operating Officer
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Serving as TalentCheetah’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Jeff brings over 30 years of executive management success leading strategic programs at Fortune 50 Companies as well as start-ups in hypergrowth.
A graduate of Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, MA, with a degree in Computer Science, his career can be traced back to the early days of the UNIX Operating System and his time working at AT&T Bell Laboratories to develop innovative technical product solutions. Jeff then transitioned to product development at NEC Corporation, where he led product R&D programs in their PC Division.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, Jeff moved on to work for Sony, where he was integral in pioneering proprietary technology that ultimately led to the launch of their first generation VAIO 505 laptop. He has also held technical and leadership positions at Microsoft, Technicolor, and Pace (now CommScope).
A respected community leader and published author (Hi Gear, Lo Intensity), Jeff has volunteered as a mentor and coach for Project Management Institute (PMI) Chapters in both Northern and Southern California. He has developed and delivered bespoke project management training courses that empower project leaders to upskill and prepare for PMI Certifications, including the PMP®.
Jeff resides in Danville, CA with his wife Betty, and is the proud father of 3 grown children, all of whom work in the tech and start-up ecosystem in Silicon Valley. In his free time, he volunteers at local social impact non-profits, enjoys going to the cinema with his wife, and works to further develop his fluency in foreign languages now that he’s mastered Spanish.
Scott Sarnikowski
Co-Founder
Chief Business Development Officer
Scott
brings over 30 years of executive program management success across Silicon
Valley’s competitive tech landscape where his work has propelled startups and
Fortune 10 enterprises alike to new heights.
A
distinguished alumnus of the University of California, Berkeley, with degrees
in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Scott has held influential
leadership roles at tech industry giants such as Apple, Meta, Cisco, Juniper,
and Adobe. His academic pursuits include a Master of Arts in Psychology from
San Jose State University and ongoing doctoral studies in Developmental
Psychology at the University of Minnesota.
His
impressive education and work history is complemented by a distinguished portfolio
of 13 patents spanning Telecom, Datacom, and Enterprise Software product
domains. Beyond
the boardroom, Scott remains deeply invested in community development,
exemplified by his active engagement with the Project Management Institute, San
Francisco Bay Area Chapter, where his leadership roles reflect a commitment to
excellence and driving impactful change within the project management ecosystem.
At TalentCheetah, Scott's mission is clear: cultivate trusted partnerships with tech-forward companies ready to optimize their project and program
management delivery success with premium outsourced talent. Scott
resides in beautiful Santa Clara, CA with his wife Sue.
Advisory Team
Rich Medina
Technical Advisor
Rich is a Silicon Valley, California native and a United States Marine Corps veteran. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems (MIS) from San José State University. Rich is an accomplished technologist with over 22 years of experience working in Information Technology & Security for the United States Government. Specifically, the U.S. Geological Survey bureau, which is the sole science agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Throughout his career, Rich has served in highly visible technical leadership roles and has acquired a deep understanding of IT security governance and policy. He has earned numerous technical certifications including Certified Novell Engineer (CNE), Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Network+, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).
Rich’s knowledge and expertise have been invaluable in defining TalentCheetah’s strict privacy and security service requirements, with the primary goal of safeguarding user data.
Rich coaches little league baseball in his local community and volunteers as an academic advisor to at-risk youth.
Laura Burford, PMP®
Strategic Advisor
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With over 30 years of management consulting experience, Laura brings her deep knowledge and consulting expertise to her role as Strategic Advisor.
Laura’s passion for helping others led her to notice a trend in 2016: as the world was changing, experienced professionals were building their own freelance and consulting businesses in record numbers. However, some people were struggling, becoming frustrated, and at times, giving up. Laura decided to leverage her consulting experience and pivoted her existing business to focus on helping independent workers and small consulting businesses succeed.
Prior to starting her own IT management and project management consulting company in 2002, Laura had a wide range of corporate and consulting experience, including working for several top 100 corporations, 10 years of BIG 4 consulting experience, and building consulting operations for major corporations.
Today she is known as the founder of Laura’s Consulting Guide. Leveraging her proprietary model, The Consultancy Model©, and her program, the Consulting JUMPSTART Blueprint©, she helps independent workers clarify their focus and ideal client, while building trusted relationships that lead to successful client acquisition.
Laura is a keynote speaker, blogger, and creator of a popular YouTube Channel that includes videos and resources aimed at empowering the independent worker. She is also a published author. Her book, Project Management for Flat Organizations, is one of ten 2013 Small Business Book Award winners.
Laura lives in West Chester, PA with her husband, Dave. She is an occasional gourmet cook and a movie buff, most recently hooked on Marvel’s Avengers Series (but her favorite director is still Alfred Hitchcock). She enjoys traveling and shares her husband’s passion for history.
Brian Levy, PMP®
Strategic Advisor
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Brian has over 25 years of experience as a project management executive and organizational strategy coach.
He is the President of BridgePort Digital, an organizational optimization firm specializing in bridging the gap between strategic goals and strategic execution. He looks forward to leveraging his deep client experience to evangelize the TalentCheetah mission.
While others in the industry avoid metrics, Brian has been able to consistently improve business productivity by over 30% within 3 to 6 months of operation, verified with predefined metrics, by aligning an organization’s performance management processes to the appropriate strategic approach.
Brian’s real joy is in putting his Scrum@Scale Trainer expertise to use in the classroom. That joy is often realized when he trains underrepresented minorities in careers related to software development or partners with his 10-year- old daughter to explain management by acceptance concepts.
Brian lives in San Jose, CA with his wife and daughter. In their free time, you can find them exploring new hiking trails and serving their local community.
Betsy Vernon
Talent Advisor
Betsy grew up in Upstate New York and has lived in several states across the U.S. throughout her successful corporate career.
She has over 20 years of experience developing and leading project, product and operations organizations for high-value private and public companies in the Technology, Telecommunications and Automotive industries.
Passionate about helping others realize their full potential and achieve fulfillment in their careers, Betsy became a Certified Professional Coach in 2017 and transitioned from corporate senior leadership into freelance executive consulting and career coaching.
Betsy attended Harvard University and has earned numerous professional certifications including the Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP®), Certified Scrum Master® (CSM®), Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®) and Professional Certified Coach (PCC®).
She is proudly based in Franklin, TN with her husband Damian, their two children, Daniel and Ellie, and their rescue dogs, Rumi and Bodhi.
*PMP and PfMP are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.