TA Associates (TA), a global growth private equity firm, has expanded its leadership team with the appointments of Jennifer Barbetta as Chief Operating Officer, Lori Stachelski as Chief Talent Officer and Darlene Karis as Global Head of Human Resources.
The investment in senior leadership aims to support TA’s accelerated growth, affirm its commitment to developing talent and position the firm for the future.
As Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Barbetta will be responsible for general oversight and day-to-day management of all global non-investment operations, partnering closely with TA’s senior leadership. Her role will include overseeing TA’s global offices, and guiding the firm’s Financial, Human Resources, Talent, Marketing and Information Technology functions.
Barbetta joins TA from Starwood Capital Group, where she served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Managing Director. Prior to Starwood, Barbetta was a Partner at Goldman Sachs where she spent over 23 years in various leadership positions in the firm’s Asset Management division, including Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of Strategic Client Service. Most recently, Barbetta helped lead the firm’s Global Portfolio Solutions Group, its multi-asset class products and solutions business.
As part of the leadership expansion and TA’s thoughtful succession planning, Jeffrey C Hadden will transition his Chief Operating Officer responsibilities to Barbetta and assist with her onboarding. Hadden will continue at TA as General Counsel and Managing Director.
The firm has simultaneously brought on Stachelski as Chief Talent Officer and promoted Karis to Global Head of Human Resources, with both positions reporting to Barbetta. These newly created roles underscore TA’s deep commitment to its people and will lay the groundwork for continued investment in team development and company culture.
Stachelski will focus on TA’s internal talent lifecycle – internal organisational design, pipeline development, recruiting, training, professional development and performance reviews. Prior to joining TA, Stachelski was the Chief Talent Officer at Abry Partners, where she was responsible for all facets of talent management for the firm’s investment professionals.
Since joining the firm in 2013 as Director of Human Resources, Karis has been essential to enhancing the employee experience at TA. Through her promotion to Global Head of Human Resources, Karis will be charged with fostering firm culture, managing benefits, compensation benchmarking and leading employee relations and engagement initiatives, including TA’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program. Prior to TA, she was the Human Resources Director at Bain Capital and also held several roles at KPMG, including Recruiting Manager and State and Local Tax Manager.
