Meet Our Compensation Team: Brian Marentette

Introducing
Brian Marentette, Ph.D.
Director, People Insights

What’s your background?

I specialize in research and statistical analyses related to equal employment opportunity compliance in employee hiring, promotion, termination, and compensation decisions in high-stakes settings. I began my career in this field with Biddle Consulting Group, Inc. in 2006 before attending DePaul University to complete a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. I returned to Biddle in 2022 as Director of the People Insights division. Over the last 17+ years, I've worked with organizations with national and global footprints in some of the most high-stakes, litigious environments to develop and defend more than 100 personnel selection systems. I've also served as the lead expert to support numerous organizations through litigation and as they worked with the U.S. Department of Justice through consent decrees resulting from discrimination in past hiring and promotional practices. In my current role with Berkshire Associates, I perform pay equity analysis, job analysis, test validation, adverse impact analysis, DEI analyses, and broader EEO compliance analytics for purposes of litigation support, OFCCP audits, and proactive efforts.

Why did you take on pay equity as your specialty?

Throughout my career, I've had immense interest in the intersection of people, data, and decision-making by organizations. By applying the unique field of I/O Psychology to my consulting engagements with clients, I've found it very rewarding to help organizations make sense of their data, so they can make better and fairer decisions about their people.

What’s one thing people should know about pay equity or other employment decisions – but don’t?

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in employee selection is gaining widespread popularity. So is the misnomer that there is no Federal regulation related to its use as a selection tool. While it's true there is no Federal AI-specific laws/regs/etc., there are plenty of laws, regs, and case law around employee selection procedures of any kind - those absolutely apply to the use of AI for making employment decisions!