Nelson named Chandra Pappas as chief operating officer. Pappas joined Nelson in 2017 as executive VP. In her new role, she will oversee the company’s daily operations and will work with the CEO. Prior to joining Nelson, Pappas was senior VP at Randstad Professionals. Pappas appeared on the SIA’s 2021 Global Power 150 — Women in Staffing list.

Healthcare staffing provider Gifted Healthcare promoted Kim Dixon to VP of sales and Nicole Pierpoint to VP of operations. Dixon joined Gifted in 2011 and most recently served as director of sales. Pierpoint started at Gifted in 2015 as director of talent acquisition.

AMS (formerly Alexander Mann Solutions) named Jacqueline Welch and Franck Cohen as directors on its board. Welch is executive VP and chief human resources officer at The New York Times. Cohen formerly served as chief customer officer at SAP.

Diversified Search Group named Linda Sanchez as chief people officer. Sanchez has more than 25 years of experience. She comes from Bryn Mawr Trust where she served as executive VP and chief human resources officer.

Velocity Global named Lina Szaks as senior VP of employer-of-record. Szaks brings more than 15 years of experience to the role. Szaks’ experience includes leadership roles at ADP and Celergo.

Addison Group announced branch managers for its new offices in Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Fort Worth, Texas. Karina Drachman is branch manager of the Salt Lake City office, Maggie Burns is branch manager of the Atlanta office and Sydney Parker is branch manager of the Forth Worth office. The Salt Lake City and Atlanta offices provide finance/accounting staffing while the Fort Worth office provides staffing in HR and administration.

Executive search firm Bespoke Partners named Julie Catalano as chief people officer. Catalano brings more than 20 years of experience. She previously was VP, global human resources, at tax compliance software firm Vertex.

Focus Search Partners, the retained search division of Vaco, promoted Teresa Hansen to managing director of its office in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Hansen joined Focus Search Partners in 2016 and has more than 20 years of experience in search and recruiting.

Mix Talent, a Columbus, Ohio-based biotech and life sciences staffing firm, hired Paige Nelson as head of sales for executive search. Nelson has 25 years of experience.

Beacon Hill Technologies announced that Mike Sanner will lead the new Houston branch of its technology specialty division.

Haley Marketing, a website development and recruitment marketing firm, named Prudence Shank as director of SEO and Ryan Maher as senior marketing consultant and sales team leader. Shank started at the firm in 2014 as a freelance copywriter. Maher has 25 years of sales enablement experience.