Meet new Charles Aris practice leader Diane DeRosa-Fedor

by Anabella Berti

Diane DeRosa-Fedor has always had a knack for transforming people’s stories and experience into meaningful opportunities. After working in the recruiting space for over a decade, she is now a practice leader in the corporate development practice at Charles Aris Executive Search. 

Diane spoke with Charles Aris marketing associate Anabella Berti about her background and how it led her to Charles Aris. “My favorite part of this journey is that I get to be a part of somebody’s story,” says Diane, as she looks to the future of her role in the recruiting world.

Now, as a practice leader, she works alongside vice president TJ Deal, searching for a variety of candidates in the corporate development space. “I’m honored that TJ would allow me to be part of his practice that he’s grown so organically, and that he feels comfortable and safe putting me in front of his clients. I don’t take that for granted at all.”

Diane’s journey started in the southern Midwest, where she graduated from Western Kentucky University with a degree in sales and marketing. She then earned a Master of Business Administration, also from WKU. After graduating, Diane became an international recruiter for Navitas, an organization that matches students with American universities. She moved across the world to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam, bringing students to her alma mater in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

“I loved my experience as a Southeast Asia recruiter. I got to travel to that whole side of the world!” Diane said about her time abroad. After two years in Southeast Asia, she worked at Fisk University, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee, also as an international recruiter. 

After her time in college recruiting, Diane shifted careers to Heartland Dental. She worked as one of the first seven recruiters at the dental services organization, traveling across the country to help expand its operation to 1,000 offices in 40 states. As a new mother, Diane then moved on to Bridgestone Americas at its Nashville headquarters.

Working at the tires and mobility solutions company, she specialized in talent acquisition, finance recruiting and corporate development. Later, she moved into internal brokerage and executive recruiting at Bridgestone. As she searched for an internal vice president, she met TJ Deal and learned about Charles Aris. After working with the executive search firm from the outside, Diane was “just so impressed with the team, the caliber of candidates and was curious to learn more.”

In September 2021, Diane joined the strategy and corporate development team at Charles Aris. 

In her new role, Diane is eager to work closely with hiring managers and find candidates that meld well with client organizations. For Diane, this work is all about the people, and she’s humbled to be able to work with so many. “To hear different backgrounds and different perspectives and the passion that people have for what they get to do, that just resonates with me,” she said.

Diane works remotely at her home in Nashville. She believes that working from home helps her with candidate care, because she can empathize with those undergoing the remote hiring process. “My candidates are going to be leaders of their teams … so to be able to tell my story of coming on to a team virtually, I can help prepare them for that virtual environment as well.” 

As Charles Aris expands, Diane is filled with the excitement and integrity that CEO Chad Oakley and the rest of the team have for recruiting. She ended the interview by candidly sharing that “in terms of placing candidates, [Charles Aris] puts quality over quantity, which feels really exciting.”

To learn more about Diane DeRosa-Fedor’s executive search capabilities via the Charles Aris Corporate Development practice, call or text her at (336) 217-9198 or email at diane.fedor@charlesaris.com.