Brandon Curry
Executive Advisor in Organization Design & Development | M&A Due Diligence & Integration | Building more effective and engaged organizations
Metro Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
Artifacts
Lodestone People Consulting · Executive Advisor · December 2026I joined as an HR executive advisor to the investor group acquiring six family-owned entities tied together through joint-venture partnerships and supply agreements for branded automotive service products and equipment. The deal was complicated by the fact that all six sellers had operated independently before close, each running its own payroll and benefits, and ranging in size from about 20 to 200 employees. The post-close leadership team was made up of representatives from the former owners. I reviewed and oversaw the HR and Organization diligence completed by outside counsel and the M&A team from the HR benefits broker, then stayed on through close as the interim HR and integration management lead. The deal closed in December 2025 bringing together roughly 400 employees. Over the following months we recruited and hired a permanent HR director and reorganized the combined enterprise into a regional commercial business model, aligning the HR and finance functions to the new structure. All six entities moved to a single integrated benefits design, expanding coverage to a market-competitive level across regions and bringing everyone into a shared 401(k), short-term and long-term disability, and life insurance plans. I also led the selection and rollout of a single payroll and HR system of record across all entities, harmonizing pay cycles for exempt, non-exempt, and commission-based employees. We used the new system to run open enrollment into the integrated national benefits plan, effective July 1, 2026, extending coverage to every employee across the country with less than a 1% increase in run-rate cost from Q2 into Q3. Revenue growth has followed the vertical integration of the six businesses, validating the deal thesis. As of December 2026, roughly a year after close, we are still building the operating rhythms, shared processes, and technology the combined company needs to run as one team at scale.
Tenneco · Vice President, Human Resources DRiV Motorparts · March 2020When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, the Motorparts Business Unit continued operating as an essential business across 9 global markets while protecting employees and dealing with a wave of shifting government and health authority requirements in every country. As HR VP for the business unit, I was responsible for the workforce side of that response: figuring out how to flex labor costs as demand dropped, keep sites safe and compliant, and move people to remote work wherever the job allowed it. I worked across Functional, Business Unit, Country, and Site management teams to stand up safe working procedures and health management practices across the global footprint, and to shift roles to remote work where possible. A big part of the work was building an analytical approach to furlough and pay-reduction decisions, one that balanced the company's need to protect margins against employees' need for income and job security, so we could make consistent, defensible calls site by site and role by role rather than reacting ad hoc. All 19,000 employees in the business were affected by these decisions. The furlough and pay-reduction measures cut payroll expense by more than 20% from May through August 2020, and the broader restructuring actions that came out of this work drove sustained net run-rate cost reductions of over $20M going forward.
Testimonials
Chief Talent Strategist and Lodestone Principal at Lodestone People Consulting
Consultant at Lodestone People Consulting
Work history
Sep 2020 - Present · 6.2 years · Founder | Managing Advisor
Jan 2025 - Present · 1.8 years · Executive Advisor
Dec 2020 - Present · 5.9 years · Fellow
Mar 2022 - Apr 2023 · 1.2 years · Interim Chief People Officer | Integration Management Advisor
Jan 2019 - Aug 2020 · 1.7 years · Vice President, Human Resources DRiV Motorparts
Mar 2017 - Dec 2018 · 1.8 years · Vice President of Global Human Resources
Jun 2012 - Mar 2017 · 4.8 years · Director of Global Talent Management and Global Talent Acquisition
Jan 2000 - Dec 2012 · 13 years · Special Lecturer, Hall Director - Student Affairs
May 2011 - Jun 2012 · 1.2 years · Manager, OD / HRD - NAFTA
Oct 2010 - May 2011 · 8 months · Senior Manager, Human Capital Development
Feb 2009 - Oct 2010 · 1.8 years · Senior Manager, Organization Development
Sep 2005 - Oct 2008 · 3.2 years · Manager, Training & OD
Aug 2003 - Nov 2005 · 2.3 years · Founder & Consultant
Jan 2001 - Dec 2003 · 3 years · Mathematics & Science Teacher
Mar 2002 - Aug 2003 · 1.5 years · Human Resources - Manufacturing Group HR & Warren Stamping
May 1997 - Nov 1998 · 1.6 years · Controls Engineering
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