Serious HR Consulting for Organizations That Have Never Had Access to It.
Cooper Gilmore Consulting provides workforce classification, compensation studies, job architecture, and organizational effectiveness consulting for small and mid-sized colleges, universities, nonprofits, and mission-driven employers — the organizations the large firms were never built to serve.
Explore Our Services
Colleges and Universities
CGC helps colleges and universities streamline operations, align talent, and leverage technology for financial stability.
Small and Medium Sized Businesses
Small and medium-sized businesses often juggle growth with limited resources. CGC helps you streamline operations, build strong teams, and implement smart systems that support long-term success.
Non-profits
Non-profits face unique challenges in securing resources and sustaining impact. CGC helps mission-driven organizations strengthen operations, build efficient HR systems, and align strategy with long-term sustainability goals.

Enterprise-Grade Expertise. Right-Sized for Your Organization.
Most HR consulting firms were built for large organizations with large budgets. Cooper Gilmore Consulting was built for everyone else.
We work with small and mid-sized colleges and universities, nonprofit organizations, cannabis industry employers, and mission-driven businesses that need serious workforce strategy — but have never had access to the kind of senior-level HR consulting expertise that larger institutions take for granted.
When you engage Cooper Gilmore Consulting, you work directly with Dr. Richelyn Mekile — a 20-year HR and organizational effectiveness leader with a Doctor of Business Administration and deep experience inside the kinds of organizations we serve. No junior associates. No handoffs. Senior expertise, from first conversation to final deliverable.
What We Do
Organizational Position Audit
A focused assessment that identifies misclassified, redundant, or misaligned roles and delivers clear, actionable recommendations. Designed for organizations with 20 to 75 positions. → Learn more
Classification & Compensation Study
A comprehensive review of workforce classifications, compensation practices, internal equity, and organizational structure. Designed for organizations with 75 to 200 roles. → Learn more
Job Architecture & Career Framework
Build job families, leveling guides, career ladders, and grade structures from the ground up — for growing organizations that have outpaced their people systems. → Learn more
Rightsizing & Workforce Restructuring
Strategic advisory support for organizations navigating a reduction in force, restructuring, or workforce realignment — from RIF planning through layoff survivor strategy. → Learn more
Fractional HR & Classification Support
Ongoing advisory support for organizations that need continued expertise in workforce classification, compensation, and organizational design without a full-time hire. → Learn more
Specialized Consulting for Colleges and Universities
From workforce classification and compensation equity to presidential search readiness and leadership transition support — Cooper Gilmore Consulting brings deep institutional knowledge and independent expertise to the unique challenges of higher education.
Explore Higher Education Services →
Why Organizations Choose Cooper Gilmore Consulting
Large consulting firms offer broad reach and deep benches. What they rarely offer is direct access to senior expertise, responsiveness to organizations outside their core market, or the kind of focused, relationship-driven engagement that produces real results — not just reports.
Cooper Gilmore Consulting was built to fill that gap. We bring the strategic depth of an enterprise consulting firm to the organizations that need it most.
Direct Access to Senior Expertise: Every engagement is led by Dr. Richelyn Mekile. There are no junior associates managing your project, no handoffs mid-engagement, and no loss of context between conversations.
Built for Organizations Like Yours: We specialize in small and mid-sized colleges, universities, nonprofits, and mission-driven employers — organizations with real workforce complexity and real budget constraints. We understand both.
Faster. More Responsive. More Accountable: Without the overhead and processes of a large firm, we move quickly, communicate directly, and remain accountable to you — not to a billable hours model that rewards time over outcomes.
20+ Years of Institutional Experience: Dr. Mekile has held senior HR and administrative leadership roles inside the types of organizations we now serve. We do not need to learn your world before we can help you.
Doctoral-Level Research Rigor: With a Doctor of Business Administration focused on organizational effectiveness and workforce health, our recommendations are grounded in research methodology — not just practitioner instinct.
Who We Serve

Small and Mid-Sized Colleges & Universities

Nonprofits and Mission-Driven Organizations

Cannabis Industry Employers

Growing Organizations Without Established HR Infrastructure

Organizations Navigating Leadership Transitions or Workforce Restructuring

Twenty Years of Walking Into Broken Systems and Leaving Them Stronger.
Dr. Richelyn Mekile is the founder and principal of Cooper Gilmore Consulting. She brings more than 20 years of HR and organizational leadership experience — including senior roles at Elizabethtown College and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania — to every client engagement.
As a Doctor of Business Administration with deep expertise in workforce classification, compensation strategy, and organizational effectiveness, Dr. Mekile offers something rare in the consulting market: senior-level expertise that is both research-grounded and operationally proven, delivered directly — without layers, without intermediaries, and without the overhead of a large firm.
Ready to Build a Workforce Structure That Actually Works?
Whether your organization needs a position audit, a comprehensive compensation study, a job architecture framework, or strategic support through a workforce restructuring — Cooper Gilmore Consulting is ready to help.
Let’s discuss what your organization needs.

