Founder & CEO @ Lever Talent | Host of The Lever Show | Helping leaders develop talent strategies that leverage a tech-empowered future.

You’re capable of more than you could ever imagine.

I started my career impatient, driven, and a little naive. In my mid-20s, I was sprinting up the corporate ladder… and got fired.  

That moment forced me to get honest about what actually changes a team: clarity, standards, and the courage to hold them.

My belief is simple: as AI and automation take more transactions, the human work matters more. Technology multiplies what’s already there (judgment, trust, focus). Software doesn’t change a team. Cadence does.

In 2022, I followed that belief and started Lever Talent. I work with CHROs, CPOs, and HR or L&D leaders to align talent with the business so teams get better because of technology instead of being buried by it. We make it practical:

• Lead with Leverage: a manager cadence that makes expectations real (and conversations easier)
• MVV that sticks: values → rituals → behavior change
• AI, but usable: 30-60-90 change plans that turn pilots into ROI
• People-ops command center: fewer dashboards, better decisions

With technology, our leverage is limitless. Let’s build teams that prove it.

DM me to get in touch.

Drew Fortin

StartupExperts

Member

Nirvana Insurance

Senior Manager, Compensation & Benefits

SmartRecruiters

• Spearhead the development of the Job Architecture framework and toolkit, consisting of 5,100 job codes with job-based pay targets, enabling managers to make informed compensation decisions.
• Ideate and establish the overarching compensation philosophy by engaging with the executive and management team to understand their challenges, business goals, and strategic direction; develop and distribute a comprehensive compensation philosophy that served as a framework for decision-making.
• Formulate detailed leveling guides with four career tracks along with the tools necessary to drive scalability and maintain alignment between internal and external benchmarks.
• Promote and uphold full pay transparency as a means to foster trust and career growth among staff.
• Research, asses, and select benefits brokers, forming strong vendor partnerships.
• Facilitate thorough Pay Equity audits to safeguard fairness in compensation practices, resulting in zero statistically significant outliers.
• Oversee FLSA audits, leading to the transition of 15% of US employees from exempt to non-exempt roles.
• Sourced, procured, and deployed a new job architecture and compensation management system (CandorIQ).
• Serve as a voting member of the 401(k) committee; review plan and investment performance, provide direction and decide on plan management along with other members.
• Provide salary recommendations for all open requisitions, promotions, and internal transfers according to market compensation data, internal equity, and business needs.
• Participate in published salary surveys, and evaluate compensation survey data to determine company's competitive position.

Senior Manager, Total Rewards

Global Compensation & Benefits Manager

Coursera

• Reviewed, evaluated, and modified current job architecture and compensation targets to advance scalability and global alignment across 10+ countries.
• Identified and addressed compensation challenges across a 1,500 globally disbursed employees and executed effective solutions.

Compensation Partner

KIOXIA America, Inc.

• Employed control and authorization over the design and introduction of the global job architecture across three countries and created a leveling guide with five career tracks.
• Amalgamated existing employees into the new structure, correcting misalignments resulting from inconsistencies and M&As in previous years.
• Played a key role in the selection and implementation of SmartRecruiters ATS.
• Coordinated and oversaw annual open enrollment cycle and health fairs and built benefits plans aimed at maximizing cost savings and delivering consistent coverage.

Sr Specialist, Compensation & Benefits, Human Resources

Provided comprehensive analytical support for HR & Compensation actions, including position classification, pay/market analysis, survey responses, organization review, and HRIS data auditing.

Compensation and Benefits Analyst

Tailored Brands, Inc.

• Formulated initial benchmarks applicable to all 13,000 employees and aligned roles to Radford leveling criteria.
• Prepared and finalized the first salary survey submissions and designed tools to efficiently manage annual merit cycle for corporate locations, distribution centers, and stores.
• Conducted tasks related to Total Rewards during a major M&A of Jos. A Bank and transitioned US benefit plans from fully-insured to self-insured plans.
• Directed and oversaw all facets of the annual open enrollment cycle utilizing PeopleSoft.

Compensation Specialist

Initially hired as a benefits specialist but was quickly promoted to a leadership role focused on coordinating all functions related to employee health and welfare offerings. 

Instrumental in training new hires after major department turnover. Performed monthly audits of delinquent 401(k) loans and re-amortized/defaulted as needed. Tracked benefit payments for employees on LOA. Performed weekly audits of Leave Plan enrollment (vacation, sick, sabbatical, floating holiday), served as troubleshooter and researched employee issues over the phone, and provided Tier 2 support to employees who contacted our Help Line. Concurrently provided executive support to newly-hired SVP of Benefits: booked travel, prepared materials for meetings, assisted on special projects, managed calendar, answered phones.

Lead Benefits Specialist

Educated participants on their benefit options. Facilitated resolution of insurance claim and coverage issues, including working with vendors on their behalf. Worked closely with providers to resolve errors in employee records. Conceived, created, and managed company-wide flu shot program. Processed all benefit enrollments, qualifying life events, and changes submitted by employees. Processed applications for reimbursement under Education Assistance, Adoption Assistance, and Smoking Cessation programs to ensure compliance under company policy.

Benefits Specialist

Provided executive-level support to Vice President of Benefits and Corporate Giving and to the Directors who reported to him. Generated expense reports, coordinated internal and external visitor meetings and seminars, and coordinated travel. Administered CEO’s private charitable foundation by writing donation and scholarship checks, tracking expenses and recurring donations,  preparing Consent of Trustee documents, and providing annual information to tax department. Worked alongside Director of Corporate Giving to conceive and implement a National Suit drive program. Handled special projects as assigned. Created confidential correspondence and maintained files. Screened phone calls and visitors; routed and resolved any information requests. Simultaneously served as Benefits Communications Manager: Developed Employee Benefits Guide to aid Benefits team in educating eligible employees about our various benefit plans. Managed content on company intranet site. Organized open enrollment materials for over 8,000 employees. Became a subject matter expert in and hosted training meetings for our Flexible Spending Accounts. Created presentations and reports.

Executive Assistant to Vice President

Men's Wearhouse

Responsible for driving sales, setting sales goals, ensuring each customer is provided excellent customer service, scheduling employees, organizing tailor shop, communications with multi-unit management team, opening and closing store on time, merchandising, monitoring shrink, assigning tasks, performing daily inventory counts, making bank deposits, receiving and shipping merchandise.

Store Manager

Assistant Store Manager

Operations Manager

I am a seasoned professional with 20+ years of total rewards management and benefits administration experience in diverse sectors. Recognized for demonstrating a natural aptitude for job architecture design, as well as for pay equity auditing and salary surveys, I have a verifiable history of contributing directly to employee satisfaction and business results throughout my career. As such, I have consistently exceeded performance goals, and I am adept at achieving maximum operational impacts with minimal resource expenditure. Professional focal points include leveling guide design, benchmarking, program management, process optimization, broker relations, M&A support, and data-driven decision making. Delivering superior administration on the latter areas of expertise requires utilization of effective communication and prioritization skills, as well as critical thinking, problem solving, strategic planning, and team collaboration to support efficiency and optimal results.
 
Currently, I am the Senior Manager, Total Rewards with SmartRecruiters. Under my leadership, I design, implement, and maintain the job framework and toolkit for 5,100 job codes with job-based pay targets as well as establish the company’s compensation mission. I also create comprehensive leveling guides comprised of four career tracks with a focus on scalability and alignment with internal and external benchmarks. In addition, I liaise with senior leadership, stakeholders, and cross-functional teams to ensure the company’s employee support structure is driving the business forward with minimal challenges.

Colleagues describe me as a progressive, driven, down-to-earth total rewards and compensation management expert who can be relied on to offer superior solutions that consistently deliver desirable results.
 
I am interested in contacting former colleagues and managers, as well as other professionals in my field. Feel free to contact me through this profile if you wish to connect.

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Drew Fortin

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