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Flashpoint Human Resources Consulting Co.
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As co-owner of the human resources consulting company Flashpoint, Krista Skidmore shares her expertise with businesses throughout the Midwest.
“Our clients tend to be small- to medium-size businesses who either have an HR department” and are looking to supplement it with services such as leadership development, management training and recruiting, she said, “or a small, high-growth business that doesn’t have an HR department yet.” Flashpoint, founded in 2002, provides basic human resources services for such a company.
After working in the human resources industry for several years after graduating from Anderson University, Skidmore recognized that the business landscape was changing drastically—belt-tightening for some, surging growth for others. She saw an opportunity to provide business services on a consultant basis.
At the same time, she was considering returning to school for an MBA or a law degree. She decided she would get more out of law school.
“When I went into law school, I knew I wasn’t going to practice,” said the Erie, Pa., native, who is married to her high school sweetheart.
Skidmore and her partner, Andrea Cranfill, launched Flashpoint while she was attending law school, She went full-time at night, earning her law degree in 2004.
“It certainly has been extremely helpful,” not only to clients, but to herself in running a business, she said. In eight years, Flashpoint has grown from a staff of two to 14.
When Flashpoint started, they forged a business arrangement with the Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP. In August, she and Cranfill bought the law firm’s stake in the company, gaining sole ownership.
On the board of the Arts Council of Indianapolis, she recently led a project to hammer out a new, three-year strategic plan for the organization. “With city funding [for the arts] being cut, we had to refocus,” she said.
Skidmore said she’s always had a pretty clear vision of what she wanted to do: She’s passionate about developing staff to serve their organizations. “I see potential in everything,” she said.•
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