TA hires new COO, adds key personnel roles

TA Associates announced that it has named Jennifer Barbetta as its new chief operating officer while also creating a pair of senior personnel roles: chief talent officer and global head of human resources.

Barbetta, who will also be a managing director, comes to TA from Starwood Capital Group, where she was COO and senior managing director, the firm noted. Prior to that, she spent more than two decades at Goldman Sachs’ asset management arm, where she held roles such as COO and global head of strategic client service.

TA said that Barbetta will replace Jeffrey Hadden, who will stay on as general counsel and as a managing director. She will be tasked with overseeing the company’s non-investment functions, including talent, human resources, financial and marketing.

The firm named Lori Stachelski, an external hire, for the new talent role, while promoting Darlene Karis to the new human resources position. Both will report to Barbetta.

TA said that Stachelski previously served at Abry Partners as chief talent officer. Prior to that, she spent 10 years at Cambridge Associates, which included serving as global head of talent management. The company noted that the new talent position will be involved with its “internal talent lifecycle,” which spans areas including recruitment, performance reviews and professional development.

Karis has been with TA since 2013, serving as director of human resources. In her new role, she will be involved with areas including benefits management, compensation benchmarking and its diversity, equity and inclusion program. Before joining TA, Karis worked at Bain Capital as human resources director.