Hi, I’m Catalina
I've spent nearly 20 years leading HR inside fast-paced, high-growth tech companies and startups. Now I bring that experience to growing companies as a fractional People leader: the senior HR partner you need at exactly the stage you need one.
I've led HR at companies consistently recognized for their culture and people programs, including Built In, Retrofit, Basis Technologies, Echo Global Logistics, and Trisect. Along the way I've built performance management programs from the ground up, designed total rewards strategies, implemented HR tech stacks, and handled everything in between: the handbooks, the open enrollments, the hard conversations. If it touches people at a growing company, I've built it, fixed it, or run it.
My work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, NPR, the Chicago Tribune, Built In and Workforce Magazine named me its 2016 Game Changer of the Year. I hold an MBA in HR Management from Loyola University's Quinlan School of Business.
I started this practice because I kept watching the same thing happen: companies hit 20 or 40 or 60 people, and the people side starts to strain long before a full-time HR executive makes sense. Policies live in someone's head. Managers get promoted without support. Good people leave quietly. I built Catalina Colman Consulting to meet companies at that exact stage, with the foundation and the senior judgment that carry them to what's next.
Originally from Ecuador, I grew up in Queens, New York, and now call Chicagoland home, where I live with my husband and our two kids.
Thought leadership
I join conversations with leaders across the People space. In this video, I'm joined by a panel of DEI experts to discuss the state of DEI in tech.
I'm also a community lead at Fractional People People, a community of senior HR leaders building fractional and advisory practices. Staying that close to the sharpest practitioners in this space means the approach I bring to clients reflects what's working across hundreds of companies, not just the ones I've been inside.
Sound like the partner you’re looking for?
Tell me a little about your company and what's prompting the search. I read every inquiry personally and respond within two business days.