Case Studies

Ideal for Organizations that are mission-driven or internationally distributed whose HR is still traditional, reactive, or under-resourced, and that need a modern, strategic People & Culture function to support leadership, managers and employees.

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Context: A global sustainability NGO with a fully remote workforce across 27+ countries and 26+ U.S. states. HR operated as a traditional administrative function. The organization needed a strategic People & Culture department, with the expertise, structure and systems to support a distributed workforce.

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Strategic Action:

• Built the team: Recruited and led a global team of 7 seasoned HR specialist and generalist professionals, transforming a traditional HR function into a strategic People & Culture department reporting to the CEO and sitting on the Senior Leadership Team.

• Established full-scope HR operations: Took ownership of employee relations, compensation, benefits, performance management, engagement, and learning and development, with practices that hold up across multiple countries and U.S. states.

• Built manager capability: Equipped managers with regional regulatory knowledge and a coaching approach to employee relations, so the team could scale support through leaders rather than only through HR.

• Architected career pathways: Designed a Career Architecture with dual technical and leadership tracks and competency-based progression criteria.

• Embedded a culture framework: Partnered with The NeuroLeadership Institute to introduce a Culture Framework (3 core principles and 9 habits), integrated into performance reviews and hiring and adopted by 100% of managers within 3 months.

• Modernized performance and engagement: Implemented continuous-feedback performance reviews with transparent goal-setting, plus an engagement plan tailored to remote teams.

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Business Impact:​

• Great Place to Work certification (2026), with an 80% employee satisfaction score, following a 2025 baseline eNPS of 24.

• A measurable lift in employee trust and morale across a fully remote, global workforce, as reflected in the 2025 to 2026 survey results.

• A strategic HR function: The organization now has a modern, credible People & Culture team in place of a traditional HR administrative model.

• 98% performance review completion across time zones and geographies.

Ideal for Organizations that are privately held, founder-led, employee-owned or nonprofit, and facing a leadership transition where the Board has limited experience running an executive search.

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Context: At three organizations, an employee-owned consulting firm (100+ employees), a hand-crafted lifestyle brand (300+ employees) and a statewide business nonprofit (700+ member businesses), the Board of Directors needed to select its next top executive. In each case the transition had to protect continuity, culture and stakeholder confidence.

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Strategic Action:

• Helped lead two for-profit Boards through CEO searches: As the senior HR executive, I guided each Board through the process of finding its next CEO, including serving as an ex officio member of the search committee at the consulting firm.

• Led a nonprofit Board through an executive director search: As volunteer Board Chair, I led the Board’s search for the organization’s next executive director.

• Brought an organizational perspective to each Board: Connected each search to the organization’s culture, structure and strategic direction.

• Supported leadership continuity: Led the process of setting the defining criteria, designing the evaluation process and communicated with stakeholders.

 

Business Impact:

• Three Board-led leadership searches across different ownership and governance models. Each for-profit Board decided on an internal candidate incumbent, and the nonprofit hired an external candidate. 

• Continuity through major transitions, with each organization’s culture and reputation intact.​​

Ideal for Organizations that are employee-owned, B Corp or purpose-driven companies that want to formalize their values, career growth and inclusion practices without losing an egalitarian culture.

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Context: A 100% employee-owned, Certified B Corp global manufacturer in the scientific market, with 200 employees and $65M in revenue. The company needed a clear articulation of its values and a structured way to develop and advance people, while preserving the culture that made it distinctive.

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Strategic Action:

• Defined core values and vision: As the senior HR executive, reporting to the CEO, I led the formulation of the company’s foundational core values and a vision for a purpose-driven future that preserved its egalitarian culture.

• Built a Career Pathway: Created a Career Pathway with Factors for Progression, giving employees a clear roadmap for development and advancement.

• Launched the DEIB Council: Originated an employee resource group to build community, support and education for employees.

• Coached leaders: Advised executives, board members and managers on people strategies that strengthened the employee-ownership culture and supported growth and productivity.

• Led an integrated people function: Led HR specialists, including environment, health and safety, and helped set the company’s strategic plan and goals with the executive team.

 

Business Impact:

• Multi-year award recognition for employee-centric practices, including Best Places to Work in Vermont, B Lab’s Best for Workers Award, the Vermont Governor’s Award for Excellence in Worksite Wellness, Vermont Business Growth Award and Deane C. Davis Outstanding Business of the Year.

• A clear, shared set of values that guided decisions across the organization.

• A defined path for career growth for employees at every level.​​

Ideal for Organizations that are manufacturers, healthcare-adjacent or essential businesses facing sudden demand surges, rapid workforce expansion and major changes in how and where people work.

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Context: An employee-owned precision manufacturer with 200 employees and $65M in revenue became a critical contributor to PCR testing at the start of the pandemic. It needed to expand quickly, change how and where people worked, and stay safe and stable while doing it.

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Strategic Action:

• Led operational pivots: As the senior HR leader on the executive team, I helped lead the shift to a 24/7 production operation and a partial remote work model.

• Guided workforce expansion: Oversaw rapid hiring and onboarding while protecting the company’s egalitarian, employee-owned culture.

• Kept people safe and informed: Partnered with the executive team on safety and communication through a period of rapid change.

 

Business Impact:

• 45% workforce growth during the crisis.

• State recognition as an early leader in pandemic responsiveness.

• A culture that held through the surge, with the company continuing its multi-year run of workplace awards.

Ideal for Organizations that are multi-channel, matrixed consumer brands facing low trust and engagement, communication silos, costly or rigid benefits, or an HR function that hasn’t kept pace with the business.

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Context: A renowned hand-crafted glass and pottery lifestyle brand with 300+ employees across manufacturing, retail, e-commerce and dining. Matrix complexity and brand alignment challenges, combined with low trust and engagement, an unprofessionalized HR function and costly, inflexible benefits, called for a turnaround.

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Strategic Action:

• Bridged strategy and the front line: Served as VP of HR & Communications, reporting directly to the Founder/CEO, connecting corporate strategy with execution across corporate, manufacturing and retail teams.

• Professionalized HR: Recruited and developed a team of HR specialists and rebuilt each discipline, including standardized performance management, employee relations and manager development tailored to a matrixed workforce.

• Unified the culture: Integrated internal communications with external employer brand messaging so employees across every channel experienced one consistent culture.

• Redesigned benefits: Rebuilt the benefits program to lower employer cost while expanding employee choice and plan quality.

• Recognized values in action: Launched a peer nomination and recognition program based on behaviors that reflect the company’s core values.

• Strengthened safety culture: Led a safety initiative covering training, emergency planning, PPE assessments, lockout/tagout, ergonomics and accident investigation.

• Built talent pipelines: Created a formal apprenticeship program and launched the region’s first multi-employer collaboration supporting low- and medium-wage workers.

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Business Impact:

• A 20% increase in employee satisfaction on the Best Places to Work survey, alongside lower employer benefit costs and stronger, more flexible plans for employees.

• Less cross-departmental friction, with store-level and factory operations aligned to corporate growth targets.

• A consistent employee experience across all physical and digital touchpoints.

• Recognition for the apprenticeship program, including a state training grant and coverage in The Boston Globe.

• Stronger retention, productivity and financial stability for lower-wage workers through the multi-employer model.

Ideal for Organizations that are small to mid-size professional services or knowledge-based firms facing rising health care costs, performance reviews disconnected from strategy, or a need to develop leaders and share expertise without a large HR budget.

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Context: A multidisciplinary, employee-owned consulting firm with 100+ employees serving the transportation, natural resources and technology sectors. Health care costs were rising, performance reviews weren’t connected to the company’s strategic plan, and the firm’s main asset was its consultants’ expertise, which needed a structured way to grow and be shared.

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Strategic Action:

• Cut costs without shifting them to employees: As the HR executive, reporting to the CEO, I led the transition to a new health care plan design that lowered the firm’s costs and reduced employees’ share of the premium.

• Tied performance to strategy: Built a competency model based on the Lominger Leadership Architect and introduced a SMART goal evaluation process, so individual performance conversations reinforced the company’s strategic plan.

• Built a leadership and knowledge-sharing program: Designed and launched the company "Institute", a continuous training program that advanced consultants’ capabilities and leadership, and served on the Board of Regents that governed it.

• Contributed to company-wide direction: Served as a member of the Operating Team and the 401(k) Committee, so people decisions were made with the firm’s strategy and finances in view.

 

Business Impact:

• About $150K in annual health care savings, with employees’ premium share cut in half.

• Performance reviews tied directly to the strategic plan, with clear competencies and measurable goals.

• A $30K State of Vermont grant for the Institute.

• #1 ranking on state's Best Places to Work in 2012, and a place among the top-ranked workplaces every year of my tenure.