Lake Mills, Wisconsin, United States, November 2025 — Chrissi James has started a new position as Director of Talent Acquisition at Knobelsdorff, bringing with her a strong track record in recruitment leadership, workforce planning, talent pipeline strategy, and people-centric hiring operations across the food production, manufacturing, and service sectors. In her new role, she will drive Knobelsdorff’s end-to-end talent acquisition strategy across its fast-growing Electrical, Engineering, Automation, and Renewable Energy divisions, supporting the company’s nationwide operations and expansion.
Prior to joining Knobelsdorff, Chrissi served as Corporate Talent Acquisition Manager at Daybreak Foods, Inc., where she spent over two years strengthening enterprise-wide hiring processes in a remote capacity. She contributed to strategic workforce planning, succession planning, and leadership hiring, while enabling high-volume talent acquisition across Daybreak’s multi-location operations.
Before that, Chrissi worked for nearly four years at The Ziegenfelder Company, progressing from Operations Recruiter to Talent Acquisition Manager. In these roles, she led recruitment strategies for manufacturing sites, managed hiring operations, implemented applicant tracking systems, and supported leadership development and succession planning across the organization.
Her earlier leadership tenure at Tandem Foods (TruFoodMfg) as Recruiting Manager further strengthened her expertise in negotiation, communication, data analysis, and relationship-building. She oversaw full-cycle recruitment for the Greater Pittsburgh Area and supported business units through tailored hiring strategies aligned with operational demands.
Chrissi began her HR career in restaurant and food service leadership roles, including Food Service Director at The Nutrition Group and Human Resources Manager at Heartland Restaurant Group, where she managed end-to-end HR operations—from compliance and onboarding to people development, benefits, orientations, and succession planning. These foundational roles allowed her to build deep expertise in employee relations, leadership coaching, and multi-site HR operations.
About Knobelsdorff
Knobelsdorff is a premier Electrical, Engineering, Automation, and Renewable Energy organization with over 35 years of industry expertise. What began as a small garage operation has grown into a national powerhouse serving sectors including dairy, food and beverage, grain, feed, fertilizer, industrial manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy. With a commitment to excellence, integrity, and innovation, Knobelsdorff brings together world-class technical teams to deliver reliable, high-quality solutions—locally, nationally, and globally.
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