about us...

Whitney Smith, PI - Founder, President
Whit serves as an expert witness and consulting expert in matters relating to Title VII discrimination, age, disability, sexual harassment, mitigation (employability and job search effort), recruitment practices, policy issues and tort claims involving negligent hiring, negligent retention and wrongful termination.  He is a licensed private investigator and professional safety source to the Texas Department of Insurance.  A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Personnel Management and Marketing, he also completed the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking program at Southern Methodist University and has more than 30 years of human resources experience.

Gretchen F. Smith - Co-Founder, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer
Gretchen is a Certified Public Accountant with over 30 years of business experience.  She previously served as a Senior Vice President with a major Texas bank holding company and lead bank, with experience in Credit Administration and Policy Development, Loan Administration, Commercial Lending, and Internal Auditing. Gretchen has a B.B.A. in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin and is a graduate of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking program at Southern Methodist University.

Cheryl J. Lopez, PHR, CCP, PI - Vice President
Cheryl has over 30 years of comprehensive human resources experience, with primary emphasis in compensation.  Cheryl's experience also includes concentration in the areas of employee relations, training, expert witness testimony, HR legal and regulatory compliance, equal employment opportunity, investigations, and performance management systems.  She has previously served as Vice President and Manager of Compensation for a major Texas bank holding company in Fort Worth, Texas. Cheryl is a graduate of Texas Wesleyan University with a B.B.A. in Banking and Finance.  She is accredited as a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) through WorldatWork and as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) through the HR Certification Institute of the Society for Human Resource Management.  Cheryl has numerous training hours in conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.  She has served as adjunct professor at Texas Wesleyan University teaching Human Resources Management and at Texas Christian University teaching Compensation Management.  She also has taught human resources courses at Tarrant County College.

Stephen M. Peglar, SPHR, PI - Vice President                                                       
Steve has over 20 years of human resources experience in a variety of industries to include defense and federal contracting, engineering services, telecommunications, and human resources consulting.  Steve's experience includes concentration in the areas of employee relations, training and development, executive coaching, expert witness testimony, HR legal and regulatory compliance, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, employment administration, internal investigations, recruiting, compensation, performance management systems, employee surveys, human resources information systems and technology, and international human resources. Steve holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee.  He is also designated as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and is licensed as a private investigator (PI) with the Texas Commission on Private Security. 

Melissa A. Mealer - Senior Consultant
Melissa has over 20 years of experience providing human resources services for industries including banking, information technology, defense/federal contracting, wholesale distribution, non-profit and healthcare.  Melissa's primary focus has been in the compensation field to include base pay program development/administration, incentive compensation and performance management programs.  She has also performed work in the areas of equal employment opportunity/affirmative action, employee suggestion programs, and human resources auditing.  Melissa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Texas Christian University.

David W. Farmer - Director of Recruiting
Dave recruits and places applicants of all levels and industries, but primarily in the banking industry.  Dave previously served as the Director of Human Resources for a large Texas Bank holding company with offices located throughout the state of Texas.  Dave is a graduate of Texas Christian University with a degree in Economics.  He has also completed the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. 

Ben Perryman - Executive Search Consultant
Ben has over 17 years of recruiting experience, including screening and interviewing potential candidates, managing research efforts, conducting reference checks, creating job specifications, and developing proposals for business development in relation to client needs.  Ben graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from The University of Texas in Austin and has his MBA from Texas Christian University.  He is also a graduate of the 1999 Leadership Fort Worth class and is active in the TCU MBA Alumni Association.   

Rebecca Bellino, PHR - Consultant
Becki provides a variety of services for our clients including employee relations expertise, employee handbook and policies development, human resources auditing, discrimination and harassment investigations and training.  She has ten years of human resources experience following a successful career in the Marine Corps.  Becki obtained her Bachelors of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of South Carolina.

Mary Ann Fulgium, SPHR - Consultant
Mary Ann has over 20 years of human resources experience with primary emphasis in employee relations issues, affirmative action employee handbook and policies development and training.  Her industry experience is diverse and includes local government, manufacturing and healthcare.  Mary Ann is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a Bachelors degree in Psychology.