Marianne Ruggiero
Founder and President

Marianne serves clients as a career management consultant and executive coach. Prior to launching Optima Careers, she had a distinguished career in Human Resources. Today, she offers a highly personalized and strategic approach to addressing career management, including leadership development and work-life issues. Marianne helps clients see their strengths, understand their work styles, clarify their goals, align with the marketplace, and create action plans that enable them to move forward with clarity, confidence, and commitment.

Marianne believes in the inherent value of pushing boundaries and achieving excellence while investing in relationships. Career growth, whether it is about expertise or advancement, requires working with intention and cultivating connections. Her practice is distinguished by offering clients insights and strategies that lead to concrete tasks and results. About one third of her client base is made up of twenty-somethings, and the balance in mid- to late-career. Drawing from her own background and client experiences, she provides relevant, contemporary and sustainable advice.

Her client list spans a broad spectrum of individual professionals and organizations including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Blackrock, Advent International, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Verizon, Comcast, Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden Arps LVMH, Estée Lauder, West Elm, Saks Fifth Avenue, International Flavors & Fragrances, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Coca Cola, and Simon and Shuster, and start-ups including Parachute and Away. She has worked with clients in the public sector including higher education (MIT, The University of Chicago and The City of New York University) and non-profits (Memorial Sloan Kettering, The Practicing Law Institute, and The American Red Cross) and with government agencies, including congressional staff and the US Military.

Marianne’s human resources experience includes senior positions with prominent businesses across a range of industries and firm types, from small entrepreneurial companies to global corporations, from financial services to professional services and fashion working both domestically and abroad. In her early career, she worked at American Express, and later served in executive Human Resource positions at Citigroup N.A., J. Crew, and others. Well-versed in nurturing promising talent, Marianne has created staffing, development and coaching programs and accelerated the growth of numerous management teams.

She has contributed to the Harvard Business Review, appeared on CNN Money with Christine Romans, and regularly addresses business and education groups about career management issues, including navigating the job market, getting promoted, and negotiating compensation. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, Marianne received an MBA in Organizational Development from Pace University, where she was awarded an Andrew Mellon Foundation scholarship.

Tony Farina
Consultant and Professor

Compensation is a critical part of career goal-setting and strategy, and Tony Farina’s experience is well-suited to help guide Optima clients at every stage of their careers. Those in the financial services industry, which has seen multiple pay and regulatory changes over the past few years, will find his background and expertise invaluable in preparing for compensation conversations, from negotiating new job offers to contracts and separation agreements.

Tony has an extensive background in compensation, working as an in-house human resources executive. He has held senior-level generalist and compensation positions with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and American Express. In addition he has been a management consultant for Organization Resources Counselors, Inc. (ORC) working with clients in a broad range of industries.

In addition to his professional experience, Tony has taught courses in human resources at New York University and has been a guest lecturer on human resources, performance management, compensation and corporate governance at Cornell, Yale and the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. He is currently directing the Business Consulting program at Baruch's Zicklin School of Business in New York City. 

Along with Cynthia Lenkiewicz, Esq., he wrote “The Impact of Recent Corporate Governance Changes in Executive Compensation” chapter in Executive Compensation: the Professional’s Guide to Current Issues and Practices, ed. Michael L. Davis and Jerry T. Edge, 2004.