Our team has in-depth experience in all areas of human resources.

Click and read about their background.

Bettye Baldwin

Bettye co-founded Retention Strategies in 2010, and is the Managing Principal. Her vision of both brokerage and consulting is the foundation for our business model — “provide quality guidance and support for our clients, in all areas related to people, customized to their particular needs and strategies”. In recent years, these strategies are often been built around gaining efficiencies and cost control — so Retention Strategies has pivoted with the needs, and under her leadership developed many innovative solutions.

Her passion for WellBeing has led to the firm’s leading and innovative position in this area – linking the people’s health to productivity and ultimately to the overall success of the client’s business. While her focus and deep knowledge is Puerto Rico, she also leads the global consulting practice as we expand our footprint beyond Puerto Rico and the United States to Canada, Latin American, Europe and Asia Pacific.

She attended Mercer University, and holds a BA in Economics from the University of Arkansas where she also did graduate studies. She and her husband, Charles Mercado, own Caregivers de Puerto Rico and they are the proud parents of Reed and Ashley. Other than her family and WellBeing, her other passion is her horses. She regularly rides in Puerto Rico, continuing her childhood hobby which she now refers to as her “therapy”.

Carlos A. Vázquez

Retention Strategies is fortunate to have the technology talents of Carlos leading our IT Team. Carlos has guided our IT infrastructure from both a software and hardware standpoint, as a founding member of our team in 2009. His skills in client service are unique, and his broad knowledge of healthcare is the strength of our technology to support our clients and our team.

Carlos is a graduate of Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez in and the proud father of three children, the eldest of whom is in her 3^rd year of Animal Science at Iowa State University.

Christine Stein

Christine joined Retention Strategies in 2015 as our WellBeing Leader. She brings with her global experience and certifications in fitness, nutrition, finance and lifestyle coaching. These skills are totally aligned with the WellBeing intiatives she and her team have developed and built around the 4 Pillars of WellBeing: Physical, Emotional, Social and Financial Health. Christine’s unique skills include the ability to listen and analyze needs, and then develop and communicate customized programs to meet those needs. Her flexibility to pivot on a moment’s notice are legendary. She exudes enthusiasm and our clients love working with her in designing their customized wellbeing programs.

Her education is from her native Germany and includes certifications in Fitness, Nutrition, Finance , LifeStyle and WellBeing Design. She loves creating and is a genius with technology, she is an enthusiastic traveler and enjoys daily walks on the beach with her dog Sammy who has become a star in a number of our videos featuring the value of pets to control our stress and enhance our lives.

Gloria Pérez

Gloria joined the Retention Strategies team in 2011 and has continued to grow with our Insurance business. As a leader in our Client Services Expert group, she is a walking encyclopedia of employee benefits in Puerto Rico. Her service standards and reluctance to ever say “no” to a client or participant have made her sought after among our clients to be assigned to their business. She started her career in insurance as an Account Executive with MCS where she learned the business and then changed to the brokerage side in order to apply those skills to assist her clients.

She graduated from UPR and has continued her education through many seminars. She started her carrier at Barros & Carrion, then she moved to MCS. In her spare time, she love spending time with her extended family, traveling and going to concerts.

Ivelisse Oyola

Ivelisse joined Retention Strategies in 2012, and her responsibilities have grown with the business. She now leads the Client Services Group which is an interesting combination of functions including our Benefits Outsourcing practice, our Communication, Social Media and Compliance Teams.

She started working as an intern almost 25 years ago – essentially in the same business model – when she was in high school; so her knowledge of the business is as deep as it is broad. This unique experience has given her the vast experience in of employee benefits and human resources to provide guidance to her team and the expertise to enhance the relationships and solve problems for our clients and their employees. Her educations includes studies in Business Administration, and many special seminars in the areas of Customer Service and Human Resources.

As the mother of three very active boys, her spare time is extremely limited but she get great pleasure watching them grow, playing basketball and spending beach time, with the family.

Bettye Baldwin

Managing Principal

Carlos A. Vázquez

IT Manager

Christine Stein

WellBeing Expert

Gloria Pérez

Client Services Expert

Ivelisse Oyola

Benefits Expert

Kelly J. Claudio

Kelly joined Retention Strategies as a part-time support for our administrative team in 2013. She brought with her excellent skills in accounting and technology and has only grown over the years having been able to join our staff in 2020 as a Benefits Administrative Specialist. Her importance is often not seen by the clients as she audits their invoices to 100% accuracy, leads the Cobra Administration team, and monitors the daily activities of our Benefits Center. Additionally, she is our Social Media “guru”, and our go-to for so many varied activities important to our growth.

She graduated from Universidad del Turabo with a BA in Business Administration -Major in Accounting. She is the mother of three children, super proud of all of them, with one studying to become a veterinarian. In her spare time, she is very creative coordinating and decorating private events.

Marisol Ortiz

Marisol co-founded Retention Strategies in 2010 and functions as a Principal of the firm. Her skills gained from over 20 prior years in the Insurance industry have been integral to the success of the business. Starting her career in P&C where she became an expert at risk analysis, she quickly moved up the management ranks with large insurance companies. She realized her goal of working more with people when she transitioned to the commercial division, using both her underwriting and people skills to achieve success. Leading her diverse team at Retention Strategies, her knowledge is critical in achieving our key objective of ensuring our clients are obtaining the best coverage with the optimum risk at the least possible cost. Her knowledge of having successfully worked and managed large teams at major carriers in Puerto Rico ensures this outcome.

She graduated from Universidad Interamericana with a BA in Accounting and an MBA from University of Phoenix and is fully licensed in all areas of insurance. She continues to enhance her knowledge of the business with her next goal of attaining her Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA). She is the proud mother of two daughters with whom she loves to travel. Other hobbies include wine tasting and listening to music.

Sandra Roman

Sandra leads the Retention Strategies Client Development initiatives. Her key responsibility is to grow our business footprint, ensuring potential clients are aware of our unique offer to partner with them in the areas of insurance and HR consulting. She is uniquely qualified to succeed in this role as she has extensive Insurance experience, licensed in all specialties plus having experience in corporate HR roles.

She is a graduate of University of Puerto Rico with a BA in Public Communications and completed her graduate studies at Michigan State University in Human Resources and Labor Relations. She is the mother of two active teenage daughters, and still manages time for to volunteer through her church while working on her second book.

Steven Goldberg

Steven brings 30 years of retirement plan consulting and administrative management experience to the Retention Strategies team of professionals.

Steven’s expertise stems from many years of responsibility of the design, implementation, accounting, and administration of defined contribution [401(k)] plans for dozens of global corporations and smaller regional and local companies. His credentials span the Caribbean Region and Canada, and he maintains has extensive relationships with other retirement plan professionals, record keepers, trustees, benefits, tax and ERISA attorneys in Puerto Rico, United States and abroad. Steven is a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley and also holds a Master’s degree from California State University, East Bay. He has held management positions at Hewitt Associates (AON Hewitt), Mellon Bank (BNY Mellon) and BankAtlantic.

Steven Goldberg – Retirement Plan Consultant

Steven brings 30 years of retirement plan consulting and administrative management experience to the Retention Strategies team of professionals.

Steven’s expertise stems from many years of responsibility of the design, implementation, accounting, and administration of defined contribution (401{k}) plans for dozens of global corporations and smaller regional and local companies. His credentials span the Caribbean Region and Canada, and he maintains has extensive relationships with other retirement plan professionals, record keepers, trustees, benefits, tax and ERISA attorneys in Puerto Rico, The United States and abroadSteven is a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley and also holds a Master’s degree from California State University, East Bay. He has held management positions at Hewitt Associates (AON Hewitt), Mellon Bank (BNY Mellon) and BankAtlantic.

Wanda Fuentes

Wanda joined the Retention Strategies team in 2016. She is a key member of two of our Business Units: Insurance and Human Resources Consulting. Integrating these two roles is one of the keys to her success. She is a seasoned human resources manager with excellent interpersonal skills and vast experience in labor relations, recruitment and strategic human resources initiatives. Looking at benefits through this HR lens and using her technical knowledge as an Authorized Representative, she is able to assist all sizes of businesses in the design, communication and delivery of their benefits programs. She is a skilled communicator and led our efforts with weekly updates during the Covid-19 Pandemic with news bulletins customized for each client to distribute to their employees.

She graduated from University of Phoenix with a Master in Business Administration-Major in Human Resources, and is the mother of two sports oriented boys whom she cheers at their basketball games. She enjoys traveling and volunteering at her local church.

Kelly J. Claudio

Benefits Expert

Marisol Ortiz

Principal

Sandra Román

Client Development Expert

Steven Goldberg

Pension Expert

Wanda Fuentes

Client Services Expert