With unemployment at a near historically low 3.5%, competition for top talent in the U.S. marketplace is fierce. To help attract and keep first-class professionals, Top 40 promotional products distributor HALO Branded Solutions (asi/356000) has hired Sean Radford to the newly created position of executive vice president and chief human resource officer.

Sean Radford, HALO

Radford will report directly to CEO Marc Simon. “As we continue to grow, our ability to draw and retain the best possible talent to serve our clients and account executives will drive our success,” Simon said. “I’m excited for the contributions Sean will provide as the architect of the continued development of our most valuable resource – the hard-working and loyal HALO support team.”

Radford, who holds a master’s degree in learning and organizational change from Northwestern University, worked for the last nearly six years in various human resources roles at CNA Insurance, a multibillion-dollar global leader in the insurance industry. His roles at CNA included senior vice president of organizational effectiveness and transformation and director of talent management and leadership development.

As a senior vice president at CNA, Radford’s responsibilities included designing and executing strategies that spanned the talent management spectrum, including: organizational design, workforce planning, talent and team effectiveness, talent assessment, change management and communications.

Radford said he was drawn to HALO because of its culture that’s focused on “innovation, growth and a passion to serve. I am excited to work with the leadership team to support and build on this cultural foundation as we continue to profitably grow the HALO business.”

With reported 2018 North American promotional product revenue of $605 million, HALO Branded Solutions ranks third on Counselor’s latest list of the largest distributors in the industry. HALO’s five-year average annual growth rate is 26.3% – the fastest among promo’s top five largest distributors.