Mary Kraft Management Team |
Mary Kraft, President and CEO
Linda Balestrini, Vice President and COO
Mark Tarleton, Sales Director/Project Outsourcing Director
Lisa Benson, Staffing Director
Mary Kraft, President and CEO
With over 35 years of staffing industry experience, Mary Kraft leads and directs the company in its commitment to providing top-notch support talent and industry-leading customer service. Prior to her role as Founder and President of Mary Kraft Staffing and HR Solutions (formerly Mary Kraft and Associates, Inc.) in 1989, Mary served in several sales and staffing leadership roles at Staff Builders, a large national staffing service. “The lessons learned in my experience at Staff Builders have served me well and enabled me to mentor, teach and train my staff to devote themselves to our clients’ success—and have a great time doing it.”
Mary is just as passionate about giving back to the community as she is about imparting her experience to her staff. She served several terms as the President of the Baltimore Chapter of Sales and Marketing Executives International, prior to serving on its executive board. In 2007, Mary received an award from Baltimore County for outstanding service to the community and excellence in upholding the principles of Good Neighbor Week. She also received the Bridging the Gap Achievement Award from The Greater Baltimore Committee for outstanding contributions to the growth and expansion of the minority business community in the Greater Baltimore region.
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Linda Balestrini, Vice President and COO
Linda Balestrini has been an important part of the Mary Kraft success story since the company opened its doors in 1989. Linda and Mary joined forces at Staff Builders in 1985 and soon discovered that they shared a passion for engineering their clients’ successes by infusing top talent into their organizations.
As Vice President and COO, Linda manages the company’s business and finance operations, including billing and human resources. “Linda’s retail management background plays a key role in helping her identify and manage good employees on behalf of our clients,” said Mary Kraft. “Linda has been the ultimate partner, herself, in terms of sharing my vision for partnering with our clients to ensure both their success and ours.”
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Mark Tarleton, Sales Director/Project Outsourcing Director
Mark Tarleton joined Mary Kraft in 1998, bringing with him a wealth of sales management experience from the retail, mortgage and advertising industries. Mark received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Baltimore in 1986. His focus on labor relationships and contract negotiations has served him well in both his roles as the Director of Sales and as the Director of Mary Kraft’s Project Outsourcing solutions.
Mark’s core philosophy in building and directing a successful sales program is to, “Invest time, energy and integrity in relationship-building and the sales will follow. An honest, ethical approach to sales and service delivery will lead to sustained growth for both Mary Kraft and the client company. We are unfailingly committed to this approach to everyone’s success.”
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Lisa Benson, Staffing Director
In seven years of service to Mary Kraft, Lisa Benson has applied the communications and relationship-building skills acquired in her successful publishing career to train and develop recruiters and human resources specialists —reflecting the professionalism, enthusiasm and responsiveness Mary Kraft demands in meeting each client’s specific needs and challenges. “From front desk administrative support and highly skilled human resources specialists to our college interns and temporary support staff, each member of the staffing team reflects the ideals of our founder in terms of listening carefully to each and every client and providing the best fit staffing solution for their specific needs.”
Lisa received a Bachelor of Science degree from Towson University, with a focus on journalism and public relations. “Applying the basic tenets of effective communications in our relationships with our clients ensures our comprehensive understanding of each client’s needs, resulting in a ‘best fit’ delivery of service each and every time.”
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