Dawn Kirchner

Dawn Kirchner is a human resources professional with more than 13 years of recruitment and talent acquisition experience between Mayo Clinic and Rochester Public Schools. In her current role at Mayo Clinic as diversity recruitment specialist, she develops and maintains successful strategic relationships with local, regional and national organizations/associations with the objective of providing Mayo Clinic a more diverse talent pipeline. Her experience includes expertise in optimizing organizational processes and developing educational materials.

Dawn has been the Project SEARCH business liaison at Mayo Clinic for the past four years. With Dawn’s leadership, the Project SEARCH program has received the 100% Employment Award from the National Project SEARCH for two consecutive years. Her passion lies in helping people with disabilities discover life-changing careers that match their skills and abilities.

Dawn is the chair of the disABILITY Mayo Clinic Employee Resource Group (MERG) as well as the chair for MaxAbility. Both of these teams are moving the needle to increase awareness and acceptance for people of all abilities while maximizing the success for people with employment barriers. As the coordinator for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities Celebration for the past two years, Dawn has been active in creating awareness of the need to bring full inclusion for all abilities within the community of Rochester, Minn.