Leo Giammalva has one of the most serious and important jobs at Atherton:  He is responsible for the single most important piece of the Atherton culture: our staff. Each person who joins our team will either make a positive or negative difference.  It is Leo’s job to find, hire, train, evaluate, discipline, honor, coordinate, compensate, protect and support that team in order to make it the best that it can be.  It is a job that he takes most seriously.

As the first Director of Human Resources in the 103-year history of Atherton, Leo had his work cut out for him when he arrived nearly 5 years ago. Fortunately, he was well equipped with the training and experience to do the job. Because of Leo, Atherton now has a consistent and well-organized process for every aspect of this highly regulated area. Leo has made excellence, uniformity, fairness, high standards, and respect for each employee the watchwords for how our staff works. Leo embodies the truth that treating staff well results in our residents being treated better.

Leo lives these values as an expression of his faith. He and Robyn, his wife of 30 years, have been lifelong members of their church, where Leo presently serves as the chairman of the deacon board. In many ways, Leo sees his work at Atherton as an extension of his Christianity, and he helps each staff person to understand, honor, and respect the culture and values that make Atherton such a special place.

But Leo’s approach is more than personal. It is also good business. Since Leo arrived, Atherton has experienced a saving in compensation claims of well over $1 million; and has reduced its annual cost of unemployment from over $68,000 to under $2000.

You might think that with such a serious job, Leo would be found buried under an avalanche of paperwork and regulations in some far away office. Instead, Leo is one of the most accessible directors at Atherton. He enjoys many opportunities to know residents and he says that listening to resident stories is the most gratifying aspect of his job. You might also think that Leo’s work would make him a very serious guy. Instead, Leo is famous not only for his corny jokes, but for his enthusiasm in telling them as often as he can!