A Year-End Review: Tying Up Some of the Loose Ends From ’84 : A New Firm Is Born

When the Olympic torch’s blaze of glory went out, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee’s highest-ranking woman was out of a job.

Priscilla Florence, LAOOC group vice president for human resources, had directed the committee’s hiring, firing, training, employee relations, volunteer programs, affirmative action and wage and salary administration for more than 70,000 Olympic workers.

Florence hasn’t been looking for another job, she’s been making one: Next month, the human resources consulting firm of Priscilla Florence & Associates will open in Los Angeles.

“I’ll be working with small companies to make the most of their human resources,” said the administrator who is in her early 40s. She was the employment manager for Northrop Corp. and assistant vice president for personnel at Security Pacific National Bank before taking on the $80,000-a-year LAOOC job in 1980.

Her new firm will help companies find executives; design policies and procedures in areas as diverse as termination, sick leave and dress codes; develop plans for assimilating employees in companies so as to minimize turnover; and ensure that policies on minorities and females are in compliance with Fair Employment Practices Commission regulations.

“My work with the LAOOC was a tremendous challenge, certainly the greatest one I’ve ever faced,” Florence said. “But I expect my own business to be an even greater challenge. I’m looking forward to it.”