Best Companies Group

Leadership Team

We work as an extension to your team to help you provide a better employee experience through strategic insights and data.

Jaime Raul Zepeda
Jaime Raul ZepedaEVP, Best Companies Group
Jaime serves as EVP of Best Companies Group and Color Magazine. Prior to BridgeTower, he served as Senior Vice President of Customer & People Success at HIVE Diversity, a virtual recruiting platform that connects companies with employees of diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Before that, he was a Regional Leader of LinkedIn’s customer success team, helping to manage the company’s relationships with large global enterprises. He began his career in HR Tech at Great Place to Work, and served in several leadership roles, including Vice President of Partnership Programs.

Jaime earned his Bachelor’s of Arts degree from St. Mary’s College of California, and his MBA from The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He lives with his wife and son in the Bay Area.

Jamie Linkous
Jamie LinkousVice President, Recognition Programs
Jamie Linkous is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University where he majored in Business Management with an emphasis in Human Resources Management.

He has over 20 years in the field of Human Resources where his primary focus has been on leading organizations in improving the following areas: recruiting, compensation strategy implementation, organizational & safety culture implementation and training and development.

Jamie lost his spouse due to Pulmonary Hypertension and Scleroderma in 2018. He is an advocate of bringing awareness to these 2 diseases as they often go undiagnosed. Currently, there is no cure for them.

He obtained his SPHR certification in 2002, SHRM-SCP in 2015 and his OSHA 501 certification in 2001. Jamie has served on the BGSHRM Board in various roles such as Professional Development Director, President-Elect, Chapter President and Past-President. In addition to his BGSHRM Board roles, he has served as Technology Director on the KYSHRM Board as well as Treasurer and President of the Bluegrass Compensation Association. 

Daniel Bloom
Daniel BloomVice President, Market Research
Daniel runs the research department for Best Companies Group and brings more than a quarter-century of research experience to the role. Prior to BCG, Daniel ran his own strategic consulting business and was previously SVP of Global Consumer and Small Business Research for Bank of America.

He has also held research positions at Natural Marketing Institute and TNS, and his research has won numerous Ogilvy Awards from the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), including the 2010 Research Innovation award.

He was a Fulbright Fellow at the UCV, and early in his career Daniel wrote a weekly column about the 1983 Venezuelan presidential election for the Caracas Daily Journal.

Katie Smith
Katie SmithManager, Program Operations
Katie started her career at Best Companies Group in 2011, following graduation from Messiah University with a degree in communication (public relations and advertising) and a Spanish minor. She progressed from an individual contributor on the operations team, to the newly formed research team, then the enhancement team.

She returns to the department she started in as a manager of program operations, to improve the Best Places to Work program experience. Originally from Maine, she now lives in the Harrisburg, PA area with her husband and two sons, with whom she enjoys traveling and hiking. In her spare time, she’s pursuing a Master of Science in Strategic Communication from Shippensburg University.

James Delaney
James DelaneyManager, Sales
James is the Sales Manager for Best Companies Group where he is responsible for the sales and growth of custom employee engagement surveys. James also leads sales efforts for event sponsorships for several Best Places to Work Programs. Prior to Best Companies Group James held sales leadership roles within media companies including Comcast and Advanced Digital.
Mytrice Allen
Mytrice AllenManager, Diversity Programs
Mytrice comes from the University of Kansas, where she designed and managed campus-wide diversity-related programs, workshops, and events, in addition to serving on the Staff Council for Disability Inclusion and Women of Color Support Network. They also worked as Director of Content and Messaging at LARPing in Color, a nonprofit organization that fosters diversion and inclusion within the Live-Action Role Play (LARP) and Table-Top (TT) gaming communities. In previous roles, Allen supported DEI programs at Vanderbilt University and Florida State University College of Medicine