About Us

Wisdom that Comes Only From Years of Experience

At a time when companies in the Dayton Region, and around the country, struggle to fill open positions in high-skill disciplines, there is fast becoming a recognition that utilizing professionals no longer working full-time offers a realistic alternative to settling for less experience or leaving a position unfilled. Employers benefit from the drive, commitment, loyalty, and knowledge of an older worker.

Studies show that older workers are timely, absent less and committed to learning. They transfer knowledge to less seasoned workers, require fewer benefits, and may be able to accept lower pay if they have retirement income.

Silver is Gold facilitates talent connections between businesses and organizations with immediate needs and actively-engaged retired professionals who have the focused expertise and experience to meet those needs.

Note: If you are interested in Expert Volunteering opportunities, please visit our partner DaytonServes.org, an initiative for Dayton SCORE.

Silver is Gold expertise can be engaged in a variety of ways

Consulting
Project-based
C-Suite Fractionals

Interim/Short-Term Assignments
Part-Time/Job Sharing
Advising Start-ups

On-Demand Services
Maternity/Sick Leave Coverage

Areas of Industries and Expertise

Acquisitions
Business Development/Sales
Communications
Construction
Economic Development
Executive Leadership
Education
Finance and Accounting

Government Contracting
Health Care
Human Resources
Human Services
Logistics
Manufacturing
Market and Pricing Analysis
Marketing and Advertising

Mentoring/Coaching
Nonprofits
Operations
Procurement
Program & Project Management
Professional Development
Real Estate / Housing
Technical and Technology

Why Utilize Silver is Gold

Local Talent Pool with Strong Track Records of Success
Solutions to Fit Specific Needs and Meet Required Skill-sets
Immediate Expertise
On-Demand Services
High Value for the Cost
Seasoned Leadership Team Committed to User Satisfaction
Operated by Dayton-based Non-Profit that Puts Community Success First

User Consultation Included

Silver is Gold team members are available to support our users on an as-needed basis, including:

Working with organizations to assist in the development of Opportunity Descriptions that capture the essence of the challenge or project in order to attract the right talent.
Working with individuals to develop a Talent Profile that fully articulates the experience and transferable skills that are going to be most valuable to area organizations.

Silver is Gold Design Team

Peter Benkendorf
_{Founder and President, The Collaboratory}

Peter has spent the past 33 years fostering imagination, connectivity and action. A highly conceptual thinker, catalyst and implementer, his experience spans brand development, product development, marketing, and civic engagement in the corporate, advertising, consulting, and community sectors. He founded the non-profit organization Involvement Advocacy (which is doing business as The Collaboratory) in Chicago to help citizens develop opportunities fundamental to addressing systemic community change.

Darla Cade
_{Director of HR at Germaine Solutions}

Darla, a life-long Daytonian, has a career spanning over two decades in Human Resources focusing on talent recruitment, benefit management, compensation/benchmarking and employee relations. She has worked with several different types of companies, both union and non-unionized from 10 – 500+ employee counts; manufacturing; banking; and the non-profit sector. Darla is certified and credentialed by both SHRM (SHRM-SCP) and HRCI (PHR). She is also licensed by the State of Ohio in life and health-which affords her a deep understanding when working with employee benefit programs. Darla serves on the board of directors of the Miami Valley Human Resources Association and as an HR advisor to several community groups.

Pratap Chavan
_{Actively-Engaged Retired Corporate Executive}

Pratap spent 37 years at $15B global conglomerate Emerson Electric, primarily based out of Ohio headquarters. Starting his career as an engineer, through various responsibilities in Planning, Marketing, Engineering Management, Europe based Sales/Marketing, finalizing career as President of a division. Pratap’s forte has been global start ups, acquisition support, planning and strategic marketing. With experience in USA, Europe, Asia, Mid East/Africa he brings global recruitment talent, global expansion strategies mindset. Pratap received his MBA from the University of Dayton and Engineering degree from the University of Kentucky.

Rich Denuzzo
_{Actively-Engaged Retired Corporate Executive}

Rich spent 40 years working for Emerson Climate Technologies, finishing his career as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operations Officer (COO). His manufacturing career was global, spending four years in Europe and driven by his ability to solve problems, develop new products, develop new costing systems and acquire other companies. Of his many accomplishments, he is most proud of his ability to mentor and promote employees to higher level positions with greater responsibilities. Rich is a graduate from Central Connecticut State University with a BS in Accounting.

Linda Fischbach
_{Actively-Engaged Retired Non-Profit Executive and Past Del Mar Fellow}

Linda is a renaissance woman who brings a half-century of experience in community leadership and social service as a registered nurse, licensed professional clinical counselor, doctoral-degreed college professor, and social agency executive director. Named one of Dayton’s “Top Ten Women”, a Del Mar Fellow at the Dayton Foundation. and a University of Dayton Alumni honoree, Linda continues to serve Dayton as the Board chair of The Collaboratory. Linda’s skill sets include: servant leadership, strategic planning, consensus-building, critical-thinking, editing, program design and implementation.

Sharon Gitman
_{Actively-Engaged Retired HR Director}

Sharon spent 33+ years in public service, including 24 years in H.R. leadership with two different public agencies. Past community involvement includes: Member of National Employer Labor Relations Association (NPELRA); Speaker at a NPELRA national conference; Member of Ohio Public Labor Relations Association (OHPELRA); Member of the Miami Valley Human Resources Association, as well as a Chamber of Commerce Human Resources group; Board Member Ronald McDonald House Charities of Dayton; Board Member of the Vandalia-Butler Foundation for six years. Sharon’s current community involvement includes: Volunteer at Aullwood; member Education Committee of the Vandalia-Butler Foundation (VISIONS and Scholarship Committee); participate in The Dayton Foundation Challenging the Myths of Aging roundtable; Board member of Involvement Advocacy, the umbrella non-profit organization over The Collaboratory and Re-Imagining America: Dayton, Ohio. Sharon holds an M.P.A. from the University of Dayton.

Donna Kastner
_{Del Mar Encore Fellow}

Donna’s a conversation catalyst who facilitates dynamic peer-to-peer forums that reveal what’s top-of-mind for customers. She’s also founder of Retirepreneur, a think-tank for executives who are striving to design fulfilling encore careers. Donna was recently awarded a Del Mar Encore Fellowship (funded by the DMH-Dayton, Inc Fund of the Dayton Foundation). With the Collaboratory serving as fellowship host, she will engage in conversations with thought leaders throughout Greater Dayton and beyond to launch and grow Silver is Gold.

Pamela Lakoff
_{Actively-Engaged Retired Program Director}

Pam spent almost 40 years in the business world starting as a Middle School Math and Computer Science teacher. After moving from teaching to IT, she held multiple leadership roles where she was responsible for large scale system development, delivery, integration and architecture. She finished her career as a Program Director with British Telecom (BT) where she managed Global Outsourcing, M&A to extend BT’s global network reach, Vendor Management, and Global Network Transition and Transformation. She really enjoys change and the learning that goes along with new experiences. Pam holds both a BS and Masters in Education from Miami University.