Alex Gomez, Director of Talent Acquisition, is a Cal alum. He began as a student assistant at UC Berkeley to now leading talent acquisition and executive search functions within People & Culture. Alex received his BA in Anthropology, and since graduating has been working in the recruitment and talent acquisition space. Alex was the inaugural recruitment supervisor when Shared Services at Berkeley was established and built the team as well as processes from scratch. He sponsored the creation of BES in partnership with HR leadership. He is passionate about bringing in talent to support...
Kento Ashton, Executive Search Associate, is a thrice-deployed military veteran of 8 years who specialized in the field of radio transmissions communications. He had the chance to serve as the Executive Assistant to the Assistant Chief of Staff of Communications at the Command Element of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Kento had his start at UC Berkeley serving the front desk of People and Culture in 2020 after shifting from Gas & Chemical specialist opportunities. He joined Berkeley Executive Search in 2021 as administrative and research support with growing responsibilities in...
Tracey Frink, Executive Search Advisor, started working in the People & Culture department at UC Berkeley in 2019, shortly after she joined the Berkeley Executive Search team. She received her BA in Anthropology from UCLA. Tracey provides support in the recruitment of executive-level roles at UC Berkeley as well as the other UC campuses.
Esha Bharati has an MBA in Human Resources Management and enjoys working in the Talent Acquisition space. As an Executive Search Advisor, she supports hiring for complex hard-to-fill executive-level roles as well as maintains a Talent Acquisition client portfolio, and advises various campus units on hiring best practices and processes.
Harrison is a Senior Executive Search Advisor at Berkeley, leading full-cycle executive searches across academic, operational, and system-wide leadership roles. With nearly a decade of talent experience within the UC system, he combines strategic sourcing with process design - including developing custom internal candidate relationship systems. With a background across people operations and strategic analysis, Harrison brings a pragmatic, data-informed approach to building strong talent pipelines and connecting mission-driven leaders with high-impact higher education roles.
James manages the Berkeley Executive Search (BES) team and program. James is a Cal alum and possesses a Master's in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in London. When James returned to Cal as staff, they worked in Talent Acquisition, and eventually James co-founded and built the BES team and processes from scratch. Prior to returning to Cal as a staff member, James worked at arts & culture nonprofits in New York and London, including managing visitor services & special projects planning and logistics at the MoMA. James is a practicing artist.
