Liz Handlin has been writing resumes since 1990 when she was a recruiter for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. When a great candidate walked through the door with a crummy resume, she would sit down and rewrite it so that it met the hiring managers’ standards and was at least 90% less crummy. As a result, a lot of great and well-qualified people were hired; people who might not have gotten a chance with their old resumes.

For Liz, it became a passion to help good folks get ahead by using the written word. She went on to help friends with graduate school applications, award nominations, and LinkedIn profiles. For many years this was her hobby, something she did separate from her paid jobs.

Liz is a sixth generation Native Texan who graduated high school in Cushing, Oklahoma (you’ve heard of it – it’s where the crude oil prices are set) and then moved to Chicago where she earned a B.A. from The University of Chicago.  While in college Liz was fortunate enough to get an internship in the Economic Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. That led to her first job at the Fed after college.

She left the Fed after 5 years to serve as Director of Human Resources for the Americas for a British food and beverage engineering company called APV. It was one of the most fun jobs Liz has ever had because of all of the smart and fun international expats and the global travel.  Liz was recruited to Deloitte in 1997 to serve as the Director of Recruiting for the Illinois Practice where she was responsible for both full time and campus hiring.  After a year and a half in the role Liz decided to take a break and spent six months sailing and traveling around the Caribbean and in Central America. 

Upon her return to the U.S. she re-joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in a very cool role that enabled her to develop key projects for the Bank’s President and Senior Leaders.  She was also able to go back to school and earn her MBA from the University of Chicago. Once she finished her MBA she decided to use her newly found free time to start Ultimate Resumes LLC as a side gig in addition to her full time job. Ultimate Resumes LLC launched in 2004.

In 2001 Liz and her team at the Fed created Money Smart Week, an annual financial literacy campaign that is now in 48 states.  Her work on financial literacy and economic education led to her next role with NetSpend, at that time a startup prepaid card company, in Austin, Texas. In 2005 Liz left Chicago to move to Texas and work for NetSpend and to enjoy Texas’ warm weather and great Tex Mex. 

In 2006 Liz decided to focus all of her efforts on her true passion: writing resumes and helping good people find the jobs of their dreams. Ultimate Resumes has continued to grow and thrive via word of month from happy customers.

Liz and her husband / business partner, Jonathan, live in Austin, Texas with their four adopted dogs Duncan, Flynn, Oliver, and Luke (three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and one English Cocker Spaniel) and their temperamental cat, Nigel.  Liz & Jonathan are passionate about animal rescue and are involved with several animal rescue groups.

They are also ardent Cubs fans who attended Game 4 of the Cubs World Series in 2016!

liz@ultimateresumes.com

Lana Newlander is a native Texan who started her career in the banking and mortgage industries. In 2004 she founded Virtual Business Solutions, a virtual assistant business that has been thriving ever since. Lana works with a few select clients across the U.S. to streamline operations and increase revenue for their businesses.  Lana is the backbone of Ultimate Resumes.

Lana and her husband Bob have been married for 37 years and have two wonderful grown children.  Lana and Bob have two Leonbergers (Logan and Tessa), one Wire Haired Griffon (Jasper) and two cats, Dara and Gemma, who rule the house.

Lana has been involved with Therapy Pet Pals for more than 15 years. Once a week Lana and her dog Tessa go to local nursing homes and visit with the residents. Tessa brings peace and calm to individuals who can no longer have their own pets.

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lana@ultimateresumes.com

Amy Russin is a native of Wisconsin and earned her BS in Applied Math at University of Wisconsin-Stout.

She worked for 9 years at IBM and Vignette in Austin, Florida, and New York.  She also spent two years traveling the world as a member of a Christian musical theater group that performed in Russia, the Ukraine, Canada and the U.S.

Amy and her husband Bob have two children and are very active with their kid’s schools, Girl Scouts, and their church. She loves to sing, be a part of Community Bible Study, sew anything but clothes, and read a good book.  Amy is a cancer survivor who spends her days never too far from a fan or AC thanks to hot flashes.  She is an avid Green Bay Packers fan; go Pack go.  

amy@ultimateresumes.com