Sierra Santia
Sierra (she/her/hers) is an entrepreneur, investor, and certified human resources professional. The first thing she looks at is a company's mission and value statements.
My Story
Sierra is a SHRM-certified professional and brings her business and HR experience to Open HRI, specializing in the finances and operations of the company. For her, there is nothing more important to a business than a healthy and engaged workforce; therefore, the first thing she looks for in a company is how they treat their employees.
Sierra believes that the research and evolution of human resources over the last 20-30 years has positioned the profession to being critical to a company’s success. In today's fiercely competitive labor market, any company that aims to attract and retain top talent will need to ensure their compensation and total rewards philosophy exceeds that of their competitors, in addition to implementing other HR best practices, such as increasing engagement, workforce development, employee wellness, succession planning, and more.
Sierra graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and began her career working for a human resources consulting firm in Okemos, Michigan where she learned the ropes of recruiting and how to target passive talent. She also worked on compensation, job descriptions, and other HR-related topics. Sierra then moved on to full-cycle recruiting for an industrial automation distributor in Ohio where she learned how to recruit for technical and manufacturing-oriented roles, as well as operations, leadership, and sales positions. She then took an HR Generalist role within manufacturing where she supported twelve manufacturing and production facilities across the US and Canada, as well as an international office in China and Australia. In this role, she performed labor and industrial relations functions and supported both a union and nonunion workforce.
Sierra lives in Dayton, OH with her husband and two dogs. In her free time, Sierra enjoys training her dogs and working with her Chihuahua mix, Momo, in agility classes. She is a member of Dayton Dog Training Club where she volunteers regularly and teaches obedience classes. She also enjoys hiking, mountain biking, camping, and being active outdoors.