Joe Madigan was named CEO of Nelson in 2018 and CEO of Higher Growth Search in April 2019. Prior to leading both organizations, Joe held roles for 10 years ranging from manager to senior vice president at Nelson & Associates. His rapid ascension to CEO reflects his enduring ability to position Nelson as a highly respected, strategic recruiting and staffing partner to companies throughout California and the nation.   

Under Joe’s leadership, Nelson continues its legacy of providing workforce solutions that position clients for success and help to achieve their strategic goals. With an over 20-year career in staffing and recruiting, Joe utilizes his extensive client and candidate network to foster strong, collaborative business relationships that reflect Nelson’s foundational principles and values.    

Joe is passionate about individual volunteerism and corporate investment in causes that strengthen local communities and promote a better California for all. He actively leads the company’s philanthropic initiatives and was instrumental in forming Nelson’s beCAUSE corporate philanthropy program. Joe sits on the advisory council of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Greater Bay Area, where he is actively involved in fundraising to provide special experiences to children living with life-threatening illnesses. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from San Francisco State University.

Joe Prusko joined Nelson’s leadership team as Chief Financial Officer in 2015. Joe’s more than 35 years of financial management experience include tenure with both public and private companies and a focus on strategic planning, debt and equity financing, and designing compensation and employee benefits plans. An analytical thinker with a passion for solving complicated problems, Joe brings invaluable insight to his role at Nelson. 

Having held senior-level financial positions with retail and staffing companies, as well as a Silicon Valley learning solutions consulting firm, Joe has continually advanced in his responsibilities as a senior executive. His customer focus and provision of timely and useful financial information to stakeholders enhances management decisions and ultimately drives profitability. 

Joe received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA in finance from Southern Methodist University. He is a Certified Internal Auditor and a CPA. 

Chandra Pappas joined the Nelson leadership team as Executive Vice President in 2017. She oversees all field operations while simultaneously cultivating a collaborative team culture that champions operational excellence and strategic foresight.

A well-known staffing industry leader, Chandra has a proven track record of building, growing, and leading teams that consistently achieve business goals. Her over 20 years’ experience in talent management focuses on developing and executing high-level insights, strategies, and plans to help companies gain market share, improve profitability, and elevate margin growth.

Chandra’s expertise has impacted staffing organizations ranging from a boutique agency to an international firm. She utilizes her unique combination of specialized knowledge and enterprise operations insight to lead the teams and initiatives behind Nelson’s innovative client and candidate solutions.

Chandra currently serves on the board of directors of Urban Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering under-resourced youth through paid internships, formal training and mentorship. Chandra holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Towson University.

Tony Bartenetti currently serves as President of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, overseeing Nelson’s enterprise teams and business relationships. He joined Nelson in May 1998 as South Bay Regional Sales Manager and after just six months was promoted to Regional Vice President of three Nelson Staffing branches. In 2002 Tony was appointed Vice President of the Southern Region and in 2006 was promoted to Senior Vice President of the Nelson Staffing division. During his tenure, Tony has been recognized with two Gary D. Nelson Leadership Awards for his outstanding leadership and management record.  

Prior to joining Nelson, Tony spent 13 years in the home healthcare industry with the companies that now make up Apria Healthcare. At the time he left Apria to join Nelson, Tony was Regional Sales Manager for a $68 million territory and managed 18 sales representatives in a four-state region. He received the organization’s National Leadership Award in 1996. 

Tony has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from University of San Francisco. 

Melita Balestieri joined Nelson as Vice President of Marketing in early 2020. An innovative business leader with a strong record of driving business growth, Melita brings over 20 years’ expertise in marketing leadership roles within the staffing industry.

Her experience from regional firms to a global staffing organization informs Melita’s success at maximizing value, profit, and return on investment by growing the customer base, leveraging data-driven insights, and implementing innovative product/service solutions.

With her innate ability to recognize and address customer pain points, Melita spearheads forward-thinking marketing programs that generate strong brands and build company success.

Melita is highly regarded for developing and leading cohesive teams that directly impact company growth. She strongly advocates for employee development to promote her teams’ personal growth and professional success.

Melita holds an MBA from Denver University and a BA, Rhetoric & Communications from University of California, Davis. She is Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) Certified.

Melanie Wise is Vice President, Human Resources at Nelson where she is responsible for directing the organization’s people functions, including strategic human resources planning and implementation. She has over 20 years’ tenure in Human Resources developing and executing strategies that maximize human capital effectiveness and cultural transformation, organizational design, talent management, employee engagement, and transformative HR initiatives.

Melanie oversees Nelson’s ethical business conscience and is responsible for mitigating risk as pertains to the laws, policies, regulations, regulatory, and advisory authorities and organizations that impact Nelson and its employees, including both internal staff and a contingent workforce of 12,000 to 14,000 Individuals.

Her career spans small to mid-size companies in the technology, B2B, B2C, telecommunications, wholesale, nonprofit, and publicly traded sectors. Over the years, Melanie has directly supported diversity and inclusion efforts which encourage a variety of voices to be represented within an organization. It’s her belief that inclusion efforts provide a platform for differing points of view which help a business remain competitive and attract the best talent. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Behavior at University of San Francisco.

Kim Barragan originally joined Nelson in 2012 and was promoted to Vice President of Business Solutions in May 2019. Before assuming her current role, Kim served as Vice President of Client Delivery and earlier held positions including Director of Client Delivery, Recruiting Program Manager, and Operations Sales & Recruiting Specialist.  

Kim’s expertise extends to direct hire recruiting, onsite management, enterprise account management, field operations, compliance, and implementations. She has been integral to implementing two of Nelson’s largest accounts and led the effort to build the company’s large–account team and processes.  

Prior to joining Nelson, Kim spent 13 years with a national staffing firm. She holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fresno. 

Craig Nelson was appointed Chairman of the Board in 2014 after a long history of management roles within the Nelson organization. Prior to his role as Chairman, Craig was Chief Executive Officer for Nelson and earlier led Nelson Technology, Nelson & Associates, Nelson Staffing, and Nelsonjobs.com. He previously served as General Counsel at Nelson with responsibility for legal, administration, safety & risk, and human resources. 

Prior to joining Nelson, Craig spent seven years with the Criminal Division of the California Department of Justice. He also spent three years as a litigator with the Law Offices of Bowles and Verna. An expert in the fields of both staffing and employment law, Craig has been quoted by a wide variety of news organizations, including National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Staffing Industry Review and The Recorder on a wide variety of topics covering employment trends, recruiting, family businesses, the San Francisco Medical Leave law, and California’s Three Strikes law. 

Highly involved in the community, Craig is on the board of the Marin Economic Forum, the Leadership Council of the Boys & Girls Club of Marin and Southern Sonoma Counties, and the executive board of the North Bay Leadership Council. He was Chair of the Executive Leadership Committee of the 2011 North Bay Heart Walk and is past Chairman of the Marin County Workforce Investment Board. Craig is the author of God Left Manor Farm and was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the Staffing Industry by Staffing Industry Review in 2012. 

Craig earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of San Diego, his Juris Doctor from Hastings College of Law, and degrees in business administration and economics from California State University, Chico. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1990.

Gary Nelson is a forward thinker whose passion, creativity, and determination make him a visionary in business. A graduate of San Jose State University with advanced work in industrial relations, hehad 10 years of experience in human resources before founding Nelson in 1970.

Gary continually explores new ways to provide value to clients and maintain his company’s clear standing as a leader in the fields of workforce management and human capital. Gary believes in a personal-touch approach with both clients and job candidates and instills this practice in his businesses. His wealth of industry experience has earned him recognition as an expert, and he is regularly asked to speak at human resource-related events and conferences; he has shared the stage with many industry leaders and dignitaries, including Dr. Henry Kissinger, Lloyd Bentsen, and Scott Cook of Intuit.

In 2011 Gary was listed in Staffing Industry Review’s “Who’s Who: The Staffing 100” as an influential leader in the field of staffing. In his local community Gary is recognized as an outspoken advocate for healthcare and education and is well-known as a community activist and philanthropist. He has spearheaded efforts to open and support public charter schools and was a leader in developing Sonoma’s “Field of Dreams” project to create a major youth baseball and soccer complex. Gary and his wife Marcia established the Gary and Marcia Nelson Emergency Care Fund in support of emergency room services in Sonoma Valley.