Jennifer Berklas started work Tuesday as Director of Human Resources at Scripps College.
Berklas said that she is excited to work with Scripps students, faculty and staff.
“I grew up in Southern California,” she said. “I've heard about the Claremont Colleges my entire life and the fantastic work the students are doing here. I'm proud to be part of that kind of organization.”
Berklas has 14 years of experience in leadership and human resources. She is coming to Scripps from the human resources firm Insperity, where she worked with large organizations and served as a human resources representative for workers in outsourced positions.
“I really wanted to get back into internal HR, where you can be more effective and make a change,” she said.
She was hired after an extensive interview process, which included a full-day series of interviews.
“During the interview process, they asked me a lot of questions, and I was very honest on my philosophy,” she said. “Really, to me, HR is understanding the mission and the goals of not only the organization, but the individual departments.”
Berklas said that she will represent Scripps in consortium committees and advocate programs that align with Scripps's institutional needs.
She said she looks forward to interacting with directors of human resources at the other colleges.
“I'm very excited to meet with them and learn from them,” she said. “Certainly they have the expertise on how the colleges work and how they support their individual colleges.”
Before working for Insperity, Berklas worked at Community Commerce Bank, where she consulted for 130 clients and managed approximately 2,200 employees.
She is certified in human resources management by the University of California, Los Angeles. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside, and a law degree from New York Law School.