Our team

Gerry is inspired by organizations that encourage people to do extraordinary things and reach their human potential.

​Gerry has 25 years of experience in the HR field, spending eight of these in Europe. Before co-founding Nua Group, Gerry was most recently a Senior Partner at Mercer, a global consulting firm. He also held leadership roles at Watson Wyatt and other global companies.

​A native of Ireland, Gerry is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He is an advisor to the Women’s Founders and Funders Network.  

Gerry is a long-time volunteer and Board Member for San Francisco Little League and supports other community activities. Gerry and his wife have one son and live in San Francisco. 

Chris has more than 25 years of experience helping organizations of all sizes and industries address their most significant benefits challenges. He has helped mature Fortune-500 companies develop market-leading programs and guided smaller firms as they scale programs to match their growth. Prior to co-founding Nua Group, Chris led Mercer’s Northern California Health & Benefits business. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and with the media about benefit topics.

​Chris has a degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

​Chris is a tournament water skier: he took up the sport in college and has kept it up, competing in local and national events. He also enjoys snow skiing, and hiking. Together with his family, Chris is on a mission to visit the US National Parks, checking a few off the list every year.

Elizabeth is an HR operations guru who is passionate about helping companies optimize their HR organizations, processes, and technology to enable business success.  

Elizabeth has over 20 years of corporate HR experience working across industries, geographies and HR disciplines. She leads global HR transformation initiatives from inception to execution that include developing people strategies, re-engineering processes, determining optimal operating models, implementing HR technology platforms, establishing people analytics and driving change management.

Prior to joining Nua Group, Elizabeth was the Global Head of HR at Yelp. She has previously worked for Levi Strauss & Co, UnitedHealth Group, Proctor & Gamble, and Gillette.  

Elizabeth is a native of Boston and a graduate of Trinity College in Connecticut. She lived and worked in Europe for over 8 years and relocated to San Francisco in 2013 with her family, which includes her two energetic boys. On the weekends you can typically find Elizabeth on the soccer field or exploring the San Francisco restaurant scene with her husband, children, and friends

Ryland is passionate about the client-first, objective approach that Nua Group is bringing to the consulting industry. 

​Ryland grew up in a small coastal town of Kennebunk, Maine, earned a degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Connecticut, and worked as an actuarial analyst at John Hancock Financial Services. Ryland moved to San Francisco eight years ago and began his consulting career with Willis Towers Watson.  Ryland is one of Nua Group's earliest employees, joining in October 2017. Since joining Nua, Ryland has focused broadly on helping clients solve issues with their benefits and compensation programs. He has particular expertise in working with pre-IPO, growing companies as they mature and put structures in place around their HR programs.

​In his free time, Ryland enjoys golfing, tennis, rock-climbing and snowboarding in Tahoe.

Knita has 25+ years of experience in employee benefits consulting, most recently as a Senior Consultant with Willis Towers Watson.

She has worked closely with employers in various industries to strategically align their benefits with their HR and total rewards philosophies and financial objectives. Knita has also worked on product development for Willis Towers Watson’s private exchange program.  

​Knita has a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and a master’s degree in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley. 

​In her spare time, Knita likes to experiment with cookie and quick bread recipes. She hopes to master the art of making pies next. Knita and her husband have one daughter and live in Kensington.  

Elise brings broad HR experience to Nua Group. From executive and broad-based employee remuneration strategy, annual and long-term incentive plan design, Not-for-Profit and Board of Director compensation, to performance management program development, she has worked with a range of companies including multi-national technology firms, financial services institutions, startups, and not-for-profit organizations. 

​Prior to joining Nua Group, Elise was a Director of Operations at an early stage HR SaaS startup, and before that a Consultant and a Strategy and Operations Principal within Mercer’s Talent Business.

​Elise graduated Cum Laude from the University of California, Los Angeles with degrees in Business Economics and French & Francophone Studies. She serves on the Steering Committee of the first and largest women and children’s domestic violence shelter in San Francisco, La Casa de las Madres, and is on the Advisory Board of San Francisco-based arts non-profit Root Division. 

​In addition to working for Nua Group, Elise owns and operates an art e-commerce, consulting and events company called ArtlyOwl. She is passionate about supporting community and local businesses and loves spending her time meeting and engaging with talented artists and arts professionals. In her spare time, Elise enjoys outdoor adventures (e.g. skiing in Tahoe, running along the bay), wine tasting in Sonoma, and hosting dinner parties for friends and family. Her days are always full and she wouldn’t have it any other way!

Michelle is a communications and change management consultant. She believes a successful program hinges on effective communication.

Prior to joining Nua Group, Michelle worked as a communications consultant at Mercer. She has helped companies tackle organizational change, implement programs to drive employee engagement and communicate ever-shifting benefits information.

Michelle graduated Cum Laude from Temple University in Philadelphia with a degree in Advertising. She is the social media chair for the Temple NorCal Alumni Association. She is a certified yoga instructor and also teaches developmental gymnastics.

Ravali has two years of experience in the health care space and enjoys working with clients and developing solutions to better fit their needs.

​Ravali grew up in Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan with an Actuarial Mathematics degree (Go Blue!).

​Prior to joining Nua Group, Ravali worked at The Auto Club Group as an Actuarial Analyst after graduating college but always wanted to be part of the healthcare industry. To get away from the Midwest winters, she moved to San Francisco to work for Willis Towers Watson as their Health and Benefits analyst for two years. 

​When she is not working, she enjoys playing tennis, watching college football, and exploring the world of food. She also spends many of her weekends in Napa Valley.

Tamra Lair believes clear-eyed analytics can transform health care. Her focus is on helping employers and other stakeholders make better decisions with better and more accessible information. 

​For more than 30 years, Tamra has helped employers and health plans build health care strategies and monitor progress through health and workforce analytics, quality measurement and program evaluation, along with all aspects of the underlying analytic  infrastructure that support this work including data warehouse solutions and performance analytics.  Most recently, Tamra was the Chief Analytics Officer at Bind, an innovative start-up health plan, where she oversaw analytic development, delivery and performance measurement across the Bind organization and served on Bind’s senior leadership team. 

​Prior to Bind, Tamra held senior leadership positions at IBM Watson Health and Nuna Health, where she supported data infrastructure and analytic needs as well as serving as a leader in  go-to-market messages around product performance. 

​Tamra was a Partner with Mercer Health & Benefits for nearly ten years, where she led Mercer's national Analytic and Measurement Solutions practice. She was also a National  Specialty Practice Group leader for Analytics, Pharmacy and Total Health Management.  

​Tamra’s career has also included federal government and private sector roles. She worked  with the National Business Group on Health while at Watson Wyatt Worldwide and helped  found the National Data Cooperative, collaborating with the Minnesota-based Buyers Health  Care Action Group. She began her career working at what is now the Agency for Healthcare  Research and Quality in intramural research and as a leader in outcomes research for  pharmaceutical manufacturers and CMS. 

​Tamra has a PhD in health and human development from Penn State University.

​Tamra is an empty-nester - other than her two dogs and husband - with three adult kids and spends her spare time anywhere close to the water.

Kelton is focused on being a trusted partner to his clients. He is committed to finding elegant solutions to unique challenges faced by his clients and their employees. 

Prior to joining Nua Group, Kelton worked as a Consultant for Lockton Insurance Brokers in San Francisco's employee benefits practice.  

Kelton is from a small beach town in Southern California called San Clemente. He traded sand and surf for wine country when moving to the Bay Area after graduating from USC with a degree in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.  

He is an accomplished "home chef" who takes every opportunity to cook for his wife and friends. After work, Kelton enjoys hiking around his home in Marin County, skiing on the water or snow in Lake Tahoe, and camping at various state and national parks.

Laura has extensive experience in consulting with clients across industries with a focus on the implementation of compensation programs, HR operations, and project management. She began her consulting career at Mercer, where she primarily worked with clients to manage broad-based compensation structures and incentive programs. 

With Nua, she has consulted on various issues within compensation and HR operations, including developing job architecture framework and managing the implementation of an HR operating model. Her focus has always been on building strong relationships with clients and providing them with a high level of service and project management. 

Laura earned a bachelor's degree in International Studies and Spanish from the University of Richmond, Virginia, and a master's degree in International Marketing from St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia. She lives in San Anselmo with her husband and two children and enjoys exploring all the outdoor activities the Bay Area has to offer.  

Gintare has experience in employee benefits and loves the analytical side of compensation work. She has an actuarial background and prior to Nua was an analyst at Sequoia working on benefits for Enterprise clients. 

Gintare has a triple major in Actuarial Science, Finance and Risk Management from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She loves being a UW Badger and has served as the President of Bay Area Badgers alumni chapter for the last 8 years.

In her free time, she likes to travel, snowboard, hike and attend U-jam classes and experiment with sourdough recipes. 

Chelsea has spent over 15 years in rewards consulting providing data and design solutions in all areas of compensation program design including career architecture, strategy and philosophy, competitive market analysis, salary structure design, incentive target setting, career leveling, job evaluation, financial modeling, and impact analysis. In addition to managing and developing analytical teams, she has also managed teams responsible for co-sourcing arrangements where the consulting advisors become an extension of the client team for annual and ad-hoc processes. 

​She has a strong orientation towards process thinking, project management and developing dynamic analytical solutions, but maintains an emphasis on relationships which shapes the way she advises clients and works with teams. 

​Her experience crosses a broad range of industries, such as utilities, financial services, hospitality, retail, media and gaming, and technology. Before joining Nua Group, Chelsea was most recently a Director at Aon. 

​She lives in Orange County, California, has two adult daughters and enjoys cooking, baking, playing with her grandson, and being involved with her faith community. 

Erin is an experienced HR professional with a passion for effective operations and processes. With over 13 years in corporate HR, she excels at problem-solving the details while keeping an eye on the big picture. 

​Before joining Nua Group, Erin led People Operations and HRIS at Fitbit through its acquisition by Google. She also has experience managing total rewards programs, and has worked in HR at public and private companies of all sizes. 

​Erin graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a bachelor's degree in Business. She lives in San Francisco and enjoys hiking and exploring Northern California. 

Beth brings a combination of in-house human resources and consulting experience to Nua Group. Most recently she was a Consultant with Aon Human Capital Solutions and advised clients on compensation programs. Though she was primarily focused on the technology and life sciences industries, she also worked with clients from a wide variety of industries. 

Prior to her transition to consulting, Beth spent nearly a decade in corporate human resources in the energy and financial services industries. Her experience spans a number of HR roles and includes in-house compensation analyst, HR generalist, recruiter, and project manager. 

Beth earned her B.A. and M.B.A. from Indiana University and holds the Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) designation from World at Work. Beth is located in Denver and in her free time she enjoys running, experimenting with new recipes, and exploring all Colorado has to offer with her husband and daughter.

James enjoys working with clients that are passionate about creating the most unique and impactful employee experiences. James works predominantly with fast-growing tech and life science companies to develop their employee value propositions, total rewards strategies, career frameworks, compensation structures, and equity strategies. James also works closely with sales leaders to help design and implement sales incentive programs. 

​James has spent 15 years in professional services, moving from financial accounting to focus on HR advisory in 2011. Prior to joining Nua Group, James was most recently a Director at Aon. James is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. 

​Born in London and raised in Surrey, James spent several years advising clients across Europe and the Middle East in various areas of rewards advisory before moving to San Francisco to work closely with the Pre IPO tech and life science sectors. 

​In his spare time, James enjoys cycling through the Northern California countryside, exploring North America, and baking.

Carrie has 20 years of experience developing and implementing a wide range of compensation programs. At Nua, she leads complex global efforts ranging from defining total reward strategies, developing and implementing job leveling systems, assessing market competitiveness, and designing compensation administration tools. 

Prior to joining Nua Group, Carrie was a director and senior consultant in the rewards practice at Willis Towers Watson. Before that, she worked in compensation roles at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and CompAnalysis, Inc.

Carrie grew up in Tucson, AZ, and holds a B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley as well as designation as a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP). In her free time, Carrie enjoys anything in the outdoors (including a recent sabbatical working for a season in Yellowstone National Park) and planning future travel adventures.

Jean is a multi-dimensional actuary with consulting experience across a variety of sectors. 

​Jean excels in developing strategies to achieve clients’ goals goals, and one of her unsurpassed skills is evaluating and presenting complex benefit and financial information in understandable lay terms for effective decision-making.

​Jean has a degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Illinois. She is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.

​Jean and her husband have three children and live on the San Francisco peninsula. She finds joy in good food, hiking, traveling, and connecting with friends.

Evan is an experienced total rewards consultant who enjoys helping clients find creative solutions to their problems. 

​Prior to joining Nua Group, Evan worked at Willis Towers Watson in the Health and Benefits practice in San Francisco to assist clients with financial analysis, strategy development, and renewal support.

​Evan is a Bay Area native, he was born and raised in Oakland before attending the University of California, Berkeley where he graduated with a degree in Economics.  

​In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his son, playing basketball with friends, reading, and watching sports.