In our continuing “TalentRise Talks” employee spotlight series, meet Peter Petrella, President of TalentRise. Peter’s journey from Buffalo sports executive to leading one of the region’s premier retained executive search and coaching firms is a testament to the power of staying true to your roots while building meaningful connections. Learn more about how Peter’s 15-year career in professional sports prepared him for executive search and his vision for the future of talent acquisition.
Journey to TalentRise
I’m one of those rare people who grew up in Buffalo and never left—and I wouldn’t have it any other way. After starting at the University at Buffalo for pre-law, I quickly realized law school wasn’t for me and transferred to Canisius for business school, where I began studying and working on the business side of sports.
At Canisius, I earned my master’s degree in business with a concentration in sports management. At that time, sports marketing and business wasn’t as popular as it is today—it was a new concept gaining traction, and Canisius had one of the only master’s programs with a sports business concentration in the country. The program required me to work during the day and attend classes at night. When they asked whether I wanted to work in college or professional sports, I said pro. They gave me the number to the person who runs internships at the Buffalo Bills, I called, was interviewed, and started right away.
After 15 years of accelerated growth in sports—11 years with the Bills and four years with the Sabres—I realized that to stay in sports, I’d have to move around the country. My network was fairly large, and my contacts at Kaleida Health recognized I might be interested in moving on and recruited me to a role in marketing and business development. I spent two years there and realized healthcare wasn’t for me, so I left and got involved in the Buffalo startup ecosystem through 43North. At 43North, I met Scott Stenclik, CEO of Aleron Group, and here we are today.
Working in sports provided me with a great network and the ability to work with executives at the highest levels to help solve their business challenges. That was the perfect precursor to executive search, where I do something very similar—helping organizations solve their business challenges through talent.
Life at TalentRise
As President, I oversee the entire operations of our executive search, executive coaching, leadership development, and Viaduct business areas. My day-to-day responsibilities involve client-facing work combined with internal strategy to better service our clients—which isn’t much different from my roles throughout my career.
What sold me on TalentRise, as part of Aleron, is how this company makes a difference in the communities we serve. The company is committed to making communities better, and through our work, we have the ability to create significant economic impact by placing the right talent within organizations.
What excites me most about my work is the ability to change the course of a business through hiring or coaching great talent, and the opportunity to change someone’s life by engaging them in a role they may never have known existed for them. Every day brings a new challenge—dealing with people is tough, and navigating the roller coaster of economic conditions certainly challenges us day in and day out.
The talent industry has evolved significantly in recent years, and TalentRise continues to evolve with the changing times while trying to stay ahead of trends. Obviously, AI is something that’s changing the way we do business; however, I firmly believe it won’t fully disrupt our business. I encourage our team to adapt to AI for efficiency, but we should provide a human-centric level of delivery, enabled by AI, which will allow us to stay ahead of the AI explosion.
Looking ahead 10 years, I think successful firms will be able to optimize AI for consistent tasks, and the firms that win the most will have team members who understand a client’s true business needs related to talent. Quicky determining that a person is a great fit for a role by integrating to the company and accelerating their business is the way that executive search firms will continue to provide value.
My strong network helps me communicate that when organizations have challenges related to talent, they need to call us because we are subject matter experts. Since starting in executive search six years ago, I’ve quickly risen to manage the overall business—it’s been a rewarding, challenging, and fun ride.
What I look forward to most about going into the office every day is seeing and collaborating with our teammates. We have great people working in the Aleron group of companies, and I love engaging with all of them. This is a high-performing team that provides exceptional service to clients, candidates, and the executives we coach.
The most interesting part of my job is closing deals—both when we win a new retained search and when we get to the point where someone receives an offer, and we help close the deal for the person getting hired. I’m a deal guy, and I love the art of the deal.
If I had to describe TalentRise in one word, it would be: Rewarding.
Life Outside of TalentRise
I try to stay fit, get in some deep work, and spend a little time with the family before heading to the office.
My 4-year-old keeps me very busy, but besides that, I like to travel with my wife, play golf, hockey, and ski. Something people would never know about me just by looking at me is that at 47 years old, I still play fairly competitive ice hockey (except when I broke my ankle three years ago—then you could look at me and realize I’m an old guy playing hockey).
I’m passionate about my family and successful results for our business. Balancing my responsibilities as a husband and parent with the demands of my job is very difficult for me. I go all in on my work and try to be present for my family—it’s a work in progress every day.
An ideal day off work would involve playing golf or skiing and going to a great dinner. If money or time was no object, I’d travel to Italy—I love it there and would never leave.
