Staff Profiles

Francine Sparks, President
Patty A. Murphy, Director of Client Services

Francine Sparks, President

Francine Sparks, Founder and President of DTI, has spent the last 16 years placing human resource professionals in the greater Boston area. She served as Vice President at two Boston-area placement firms where she was architect of a more consultative approach to HR placement, and helped grow each business significantly. She formed Distinctive Talent in 2001, as a way to build upon her many years of experience, and to expand the range and depth of services available to clients looking for HR talent.

Prior to her work in human resources placement, Francine did needs assessment and business development for a Boston-based training and development consulting firm. She left to become Partner in a consultancy specializing in custom learning solutions for corporate clients. There she promoted the company’s methodology and was instrumental in the rapid growth of the business. Early on in her career, Francine directed large scale non-profit employment and training programs geared towards finding jobs for low income populations.

Francine has a B.A. degree from Brandeis University, and completed coursework towards a Masters in Clinical Psychology at Harvard University. She is active in several Boston-based Human Resources professional associations.

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Patty A. Murphy, Director of Client Services

Patty Murphy handles information management and research activities at Distinctive Talent. She helps organize the vast amount of data which underlies our service capability, using a variety of tools, technology, and resources to make sure Distinctive Talent is up to date in its information needs. Patty also manages marketing and outreach projects to deepen our search capability, and promote our brand. Patty maintains a high level of involvement with our ongoing assignments, regularly interacting with candidates and clients to provide follow up or needed information. Her role is central to the smooth operation of the company, and her contribution allows the entire team to continually function at the highest possible high level.

Patty’s background includes over 15 years of Human resources experience in professional services and healthcare. In addition to working as a generalist, she has experience in Benefits, Work Life Programs, and HR Operations. Patty holds a BS degree from Providence College.

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