CHRO Community: A Look Back at 2022

For many, this past year was a period of uncertainty, coinciding with a variety of growing health, economic and geopolitical crises. In the midst of it all, Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) across North America came together at Evanta gatherings to discuss a myriad of issues, ranging from employee experience to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

In 2022, CHROs from Evanta’s U.S. and Canadian communities attended 14 Executive Summits, 12 Inner Circle Dinners, and 27 virtual gatherings, where they shared their stories, exchanged ideas and made meaningful new connections. Here is what a few had to say about the community gatherings:

This is my favourite conference every year, and the 2022 conference exceeded all past conferences by far! Awesome venue, super high-caliber presentations and breakouts, and lots of great networking.  I came away with great ideas, and a few new contacts that I plan to collaborate with.”

– Vancouver, BC CHRO Community Member

My first event and I was thoroughly impressed! Spectacular day and I look forward to future [summits]. Outstanding work by the whole team!”

– Philadelphia CHRO Community Member

Utterly fantastic!”

– Minneapolis CHRO Community Member

CHRO Top Priorities

Data collected from our annual Leadership Perspective Surveys helped to shape every summit agenda and influence key discussion topics throughout Evanta programs in 2022. Our CHRO community members' top priorities were:

• Employee Experience & Organizational Culture
• Recruitment/Onboarding/Retention Strategies
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Current & Future Leadership
• Succession Planning

Highly-Rated Presentations

Across the 14 Executive Summits hosted in North America in 2022, these were some of the most popular sessions:

Boardroom: Aligning Succession Planning to Future Business Strategy
In this session, a small group of executives led a discussion around the criticality of having a diverse leadership talent pool and a robust succession plan in place as the work environment continues to evolve. The group dove deeper into the ways in which a diverse workforce can help enterprises boost business performance and how to streamline their leadership risk strategy to ensure effective internal decision-making.

Breakout Session: Accelerating Through a Stop Sign
Shawn Williams, EVP and Chief People Officer at Sabre was joined by his colleague, John Romero, Sabre’s Chief Talent Officer, for a co-presentation about how they used the opportunity provided by the COVID-19 pandemic to partner with the CEO to reset and reshape their company culture. Shawn and John shared their successes in improving transparency throughout the business while empowering peers to lead from both the mind and the heart.

Keynote: Walk This Way – Boldly Driving Belonging, Connection and Inspiration in the New Workforce
For this keynote, Stephanie Franklin, CHRO at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, posited that there has never been a more important time for HR leaders to foster connection and inspire their people for the entire employee lifecycle - from hire to retire. Stephanie shared her thoughts on the nature of the evolving employee value proposition in today’s near-post-COVID workplace, as well as tactical ways to innovate throughout the employee life cycle to support people in the moments that matter.

Highly-Rated Town Hall and Boardroom Gatherings

Evanta also hosted a number of virtual gatherings for our CHRO communities. Here are the most popular sessions:

Dallas CHRO Town Hall: Measuring Progress – Effective DE&I in 2022
In this Town Hall hosted by governing body member Kalisha Holland, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at BNSF Railway, CHROs in the Dallas community discussed how the events of the past two years have brought forth a renewed sense of urgency and scrutiny on DE&I from every corner of the business. Kalisha was supported by fellow governing body members Tina Bigalke, Chief Diversity Officer at PepsiCo; Kim Besse, EVP & CHRO at Children’s Health; Marla Storm, CHRO at Balfour Beatty US; and Anna Kay Rice, Chief People Officer at Frontier Communications, who each shared their own strategies to measure and track the success of newly-launched organizational DE&I efforts.

San Francisco CHRO Boardroom: Modernizing Mental Health and Workforce Well-Being
meQuilibrium co-founder and Chief Knowledge Officer, Andrew Shatte, PhD, moderated this Virtual Town Hall, where the group discussed how organizations are rethinking talent strategies with mental health and well-being at the core. Joined by discussion leaders Sheryl Fox, Head of Global Total Rewards for Fitbit at Google and Sudarshana Rangachary, SVP & CHRO at Essex Property Trust, this program focused on trends HR leaders are seeing in employee burnout and mental health.

Most Popular Content

Here are the top articles and podcasts CHROs in Evanta communities were reading and listening to this year.

• Top 10 Trends for CHROs in 2022. In this blog about our annual Leadership Perspective Survey, we looked at where CHROs were focusing their attention and budget and found 10 trends.
• 2022 CHRO Leadership Perspectives. This infographic highlighted what 450 CHROs said were their most important priorities in 2022.
• Governing Body Spotlight: Deborah Borg, EVP, CHRO, International Flavors and Fragrances.  In this Q&A series, we highlight Evanta governing body members who drive our “by CHRO, for CHRO” communities. This spotlight features Deborah Borg, a Co-Chair for the New York CHRO community.
• Top 3 Areas of Focus for CHROs in 2022. This blog to kick off the year focused on three key themes for CHROs.
• [PODCAST] How Should C-level Executives Influence the Enterprise? CHRO Janice Deskus of Staples kicked off our summer podcast series by discussing how to earn a seat at the decision-making table and why it’s important to expand beyond your functional role.
• [PODCAST] What Role Does the C-Suite Have in Sustainability? Executive Director and Digital CIO Eddy Wagoner of JLL joined the podcast to talk about how C-level leaders can address sustainability and other global concerns. 

What’s in Store for 2023?

We have already confirmed several dates for our 2023 North American CHRO Inner Circle Dinners and Executive Summits, including:

• New York CHRO Inner Circle Dinner – March 7, 2023
• Toronto CHRO Inner Circle Dinner – March 28, 2023
• Philadelphia CHRO Inner Circle Dinner – April 18, 2023
• Minneapolis CHRO Executive Summit – May 24, 2023
• Vancouver, BC CHRO Executive Summit – June 6, 2023

We are currently gathering new insights from People Leaders across North America to curate the content for our upcoming programs, and more gatherings will be announced soon. Join your local CHRO community and never miss an opportunity to connect with like-minded peers on mission critical topics!