Meet the team
Rachael Reece, CPCC, CEPA®
FOUNDER AND CEO
Rachael Reece is a talent-optimization and culture-building expert committed to elevating business outcomes for her clients. Her commitment is the bedrock of Ignite Engagement. Rachael has dedicated the past 20 years to honing her organizational skills in major operational and CHRO roles for a range of clients ranging from startup companies to non-profits to large international organizations. Rachael has not only led big-scale redesigns, mergers, and elaborate corporate change efforts but also advised C-level executives on everything from communication to collaboration.
Rachael has earned multiple certifications in her years as a coach—Certified Partner of The Predictive Index, Certified Professional Coach, Certified Exit Planning Advisor, and Certified Talent Optimization Leader—demonstrating an ability to combine behavioral skills and assessment tools masterfully. Her specializations in analyzing, designing, implementing, and supporting leaders seeking to build dynamic work cultures have consistently driven performance and bolstered profitability for her clients.
Rachael’s contagious passion for her work informs her desire to understand and connect with each individual, team, and organization she serves. And her gift for connection doesn’t stop there. In her “off” time, you may find Rachael enjoying dinner with friends, digging in her garden, or wrangling a group of teenagers at the lake.
Emerson Oswald
CLIENT RELATIONS SPECIALIST
Emerson Oswald is a connector. With years of client-facing experience in the hospitality industry, Emerson endows the Ignite team with her passion for relationship building and her penchant for hard work. Her strong presence on the Engagement side of Ignite Engagement reflects in her connection with the company’s community, both directly and digitally, and her implementation of content strategy for the organization. A psychology degree candidate at the University of South Carolina, Emerson is well described as a college football devotée, an avid traveler, and a hot yoga enthusiast.
Kristen Arena
Talent Consultant
Kristen Arena is way more than a talent strategist. With over a decade of experience and a passion for building high-impact teams, she has helped some of the world’s most influential companies scale with intention. Her focus on designing and executing talent strategies that align with business goals has distinguished her work with industry leaders like Meta and Bloomberg where she partnered closely with senior leadership to drive high-impact strategies and lead successful team-building initiatives. Optimizing recruitment processes and implementing candidate experience and employer branding initiatives, her work improved engagement and efficiency in technical recruiting. Kristen also played a critical role in developing new hiring models and spearheaded large-scale training programs that equipped hundreds of recruiters with the tools to engage, attract, and close top-tier talent in a highly competitive market.
Now at Ignite, Kristen helps companies build and scale teams with purpose. As a leader of comprehensive recruitment operations at the enterprise level, Kristen’s focus on cultivating cohesive, high-performing teams that fuel long-term success has shaped her ability to drive talent strategies and take a quantum leap from simply filling roles.