Our Team

Candice is a recent transplant to New Mexico after spending most of her life in Northern Utah. She loves the landscape of NM and spends most of her free time camping and backpacking. She obtained her AS degree in General Studies from Dixie State University in 2020, and will begin attending University of Alaska Fairbanks in Spring 2021, pursuing an online degree in Sports and Recreation Business.

Candice started in our light industrial division and has since joined our office professional staffing and recruiting division. 

Candice is a licensed minister and has conducted numerous weddings for friends and family. She has three children and almost 100 houseplants. 

Originally from Pennsylvania, Abby Dietz moved to Santa Fe from Northern Virginia/DC Metro area in 2011.  She joined The Hire Firm in a temporary role but fit the culture so well we decided to keep her!  Her strong background in sales, customer service, and executive administrative skills was the perfect blend for a staffing and recruiting professional. Now, nearly ten years later, Abby primarily focuses on direct hire and executive search positions and managing the firm.  Abby has a fantastic ability to quickly understand clients’ needs and match those needs with talented candidates.

Abby is a living success story for temporary and temp-to-hire opportunities and has obtained three long-term, rewarding positions in her career that started as temporary or temp-to-hire. She believes in what we do and knows first-hand how being open and flexible can lead to great opportunities. She would love to share her story with anyone who is curious about it!

When she’s not working, she enjoys recharging on backpacking trips, spending time with family, friends, and fur babies, and taking classes on whatever is currently of interest to her!

After retiring from his position as Chief Executive Officer and Owner of The Hire Firm, Carlos remains a trusted consultant.

His experience is deep and diverse. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Carlos served in senior management roles with Scott Paper Company. His early career included international assignments with McKinsey and Co. and Eli Lilly. In the late ‘90s, Carlos served as President of Business Development and Planning for Vitro S.A., a $3-billion multinational glass company in Monterrey, Mexico. He was Chairman and CEO of Clean Fuels Technology, a leading developer of emulsified fuels for transportation and power generation. Since 2003 he has served on the Board of Directors of publicly traded Libbey, Inc. Since 2004 he has been the Owner and President of CDuno Coaching and Consulting, providing management consulting and coaching services.  Recognizing the increasing number of business owners who want assistance preparing for their exit, Carlos has recently joined NAVIX Consultants, a leading exit planning organization. By adding NAVIX to his existing Executive Coaching and Consulting services, he can help business owners with a full range of services to help them successfully lead and grow their company, from now and up to their future exit.

Originally from Mexico City, Carlos has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the National University of Mexico, as well as a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering, and an MBA, both from Columbia University, New York. He is also a Certified Executive Coach, trained at the Hudson Institute in Santa Barbara.

Silas Peterson is Chief Executive Officer and Owner of The Hire Firm. He holds the SHRM-SCP (Senior Certified Professional) designation from SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the SPHR (Senior Professional of Human Resources) from HRCI, the Human Resource Certification Institute. He is also an American Staffing Association designated CSP (Certified Staffing Professional) and holds the PRC, CIR, ACIR, CSSR, and CDR certifications from AIRS, the global leader in recruitment training.

Silas has extensive experience as a recruiting consultant. His recent searches include work across a variety of industries, including technology and manufacturing, hospitality and food services, financial services, non-profits, education, gaming, construction, tribal governments, energy, and healthcare, and in the functional areas of human resources, finance and accounting, operations, executive management, customer service, and administration.

Silas is the immediate-past Board Chair of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, and he is also helping to address Santa Fe’s acute housing shortage through involvement with the Santa Fe Housing Action Coalition. He is a Paul Harris Fellow and Past President of the Rotary Club of Santa Fe Centro, Past President of the Northern New Mexico Human Resources Association, and a former Commissioner for the City of Santa Fe’s Community Development Commission.

He received a Bachelor of Arts in French, from Portland State University, and a Master of Arts in Eastern Classics, from St. John's College. When not working or running, Silas enjoys spending time with his family, especially his 11-year-old daughter.

Born and raised in New Mexico, Melissa Sanchez primarily grew up in Deming New Mexico and lived between Santa Fe and Albuquerque before making Santa Fe her home in 2009.  Melissa held the position of bartender and hotel night auditor before joining Paychex as a Junior Payroll Specialist in 2008.  She completed their self-study program and was promoted to Senior Payroll Specialist a year later.  She was responsible for processing payroll for 300+ clients in their California market.  Over the next 9 years with Paychex, Melissa became a certified mentor, Wellness Champion, Change of Entity Coordinator, and acting Client Service Supervisor.  Melissa met her husband, a Santa Fean, in 2009.  He brought her back to the City Different and they had a beautiful son together in 2010.

Melissa left Paychex to join The Hire Firm family in October of 2017 as our Bookkeeper. Outside of her day job, Melissa is also a talented crocheter who runs The Grave Yarn, her own small crochet business.  She is a one-woman crochet machine whose wares can be found in her Etsy shop.  She has also had several patterns published in Happily Hooked Magazine.

Melissa is currently pursuing an accounting degree at Santa Fe Community College.

Cait Starek is originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has called Albuquerque, New Mexico home since 2006. She has an avid love for animals and spent twelve years working at a kennel in Albuquerque while she completed a BS degree in Biology and an MA in Library and Information Science. After that, she spent two years as an Office Manager for a small family-owned beef jerky company before joining our team in 2021. 

Cait holds a multifaceted position at The Hire Firm, focusing on candidate engagement and records management.  She also provides invaluable business support to our team.  

In her spare time, Cait enjoys interior decorating, various DIY/craft projects, gardening, and anything she can do outdoors with her three rescue dogs, Scarlet, Enzo, and Vex. She is also a lover of live music events and traveling.