About

Strategic Fixer During Complexity

25+ years inside the rooms where big people decisions get made. Now helping mid-market companies make them better.

Stacey Zeleznik in a professional corporate headshot with a blue blazer
Founder

Stacey Zeleznik

Strategic Fixer During Complexity

I didn't set out to be an HR leader. I set out to be an entrepreneur. I studied business and management at Georgia State University with one goal: build something. What I didn't expect was falling in love with organizational theory, the psychology of how people work together, how culture shapes behavior, and how the right structure either accelerates or destroys a company's potential.

That curiosity took me from a law firm HR role, where I got my first real taste of what happens to people and culture when organizations get acquired, to B2B e-commerce tech at Peregrine Systems, which was itself acquired by HP. Two companies. Two integrations. Two very different lessons in what breaks when growth outpaces infrastructure.

Then came Nordson Corporation, and the next 20 years of my career.

What started as a domestic HR role grew into something I never could have planned. I built and led HR across 30 countries, helped move the company from a decentralized structure to a global service delivery model, and stood up shared services centers in Singapore, the Netherlands, China, and the Americas.

I led business partner teams that touched every corner of the organization, took on Total Rewards covering compensation, benefits, the full spectrum, and drove a fundamental transformation of how HR operated as a strategic function. It was the kind of career-within-a-career that most people don't get once, let alone at that scale.

By the time I left, I had seen what world-class HR infrastructure looks like. I had also seen exactly what breaks when companies grow faster than their people systems can handle.

In 2022, I stepped into one of the most complex leadership challenges of my career.

A Chief People Officer role at a global gaming company, leading culture transformation, M&A integration, and executive coaching simultaneously. The kind of role where every decision touched structure, people, and capability at once.

30 Countries

HR built and led across global operations on five continents.

3 Shared Services Centers

Stood up in Maastricht, China, and the Americas from the ground up.

2 Major Integrations

M&A integration work where capability, culture, and structure had to align fast.

The Why

I Founded Peaks Advisory Group Because the Experience I'd Built Was Exactly What Mid-Market Companies Desperately Need, and Rarely Have Access To.

Across M&A, global scale, culture transformation, leadership succession, and HR operating model design, I've done the work. In the room. At the table. In 30 countries. I work exclusively with scaling mid-market companies navigating growth phases, acquisitions, or leadership gaps that have outpaced their people infrastructure.

My clients aren't looking for policy audits or off-the-shelf workshops. They need a strategic partner who will step into complexity, move fast, and tie every intervention to measurable outcomes: employee NPS, engagement, retention, and business performance.

I'm not a typical consultant. I spent 25+ years doing the actual work. I know what breaks and when. And I know how to fix it (structure, people, and capability together) before the business loses momentum.

See How I Work
In Their Words

What Senior Leaders Say

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Stacey brings a deep breadth of global HR expertise and exceptionally sound business judgment. She is practical, approachable, and a strategic thinker."
Chief Legal Officer & Corporate SecretaryFortune 500 Company
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"A true strategic thinker, she consistently operated with an enterprise-wide mindset, ensuring people decisions tied directly to business outcomes."
CEOASX Top 20 Global Gaming Company