Chief Human Resources Officer
About the Role
The Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) serves as the enterprise leader of Health First’s people, culture, leadership, and workforce sustainability. As a core member of the senior leadership team, the CHRO ensures Health First has the talent, leadership capability, and organizational systems required to fulfill its Mission, advance its strategic priorities, and support continued growth. The CHRO integrates human-centered leadership with operational and financial discipline, ensuring associates are engaged, supported, and aligned to deliver exceptional care to the communities Health First serves. The CHRO models and embeds Health First’s I CARE values—Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence—across the enterprise.
Responsibilities
Serve as executive owner of Health First’s People Pillar, ensuring the organization is a great place to work, lead, and grow.
Develop and execute a comprehensive enterprise workforce strategy aligned with Health First’s Mission, values, growth trajectory, and evolving care delivery models.
Anticipate and mitigate workforce risks related to labor availability, engagement, burnout, turnover, and emerging skill requirements.
Lead enterprise-wide recruitment and retention strategies for clinical and non-clinical roles in a highly competitive healthcare labor market.
Strengthen Health First’s employer brand and value proposition.
Build and sustain academic, community, and workforce development partnerships to ensure.
Oversee onboarding, early tenure experience, and associate engagement strategies to improve retention and performance.
Serve as enterprise owner of Health First’s total rewards philosophy, compensation strategy, and benefits programs.
Balance market competitiveness, associate well-being, and financial stewardship.
Monitor labor expense trends, productivity measures, contract labor utilization, and pay equity.
Ensure compensation practices are compliant, transparent, and aligned with organizational values.
Define and steward Health First’s leadership philosophy and expectations.
Design and oversee leadership development pathways for frontline, clinical, and executive leaders.
Lead succession planning for executive and mission-critical roles to ensure leadership continuity and organizational resilience.
Embed the I CARE values into performance expectations, leadership behaviors, and decision-making.
Foster a culture of trust, respect, and accountability across the organization.
Lead employee relations strategy, performance management, and issue resolution with consistency and compassion.
Oversee labor relations strategy, risk mitigation, and union avoidance activities as applicable.
Align organizational structures, roles, and spans of control to support strategy and growth.
Lead enterprise performance management systems that reinforce accountability, development, and results.
Support enterprise change management and transformation initiatives.
Champion associate wellbeing, resilience, mental health, and engagement initiatives.
Reduce burnout and improve workforce sustainability while strengthening the associate experience.
Advance associate listening strategies and connect insights to action.
Support workforce safety, leave management, and absence programs.
Ensure compliance with all employment, labor, credentialing, and regulatory requirements.
Oversee HR operations, shared services, technology platforms, and data governance.
Identify and mitigate workforce-related enterprise risks.
Drive continuous improvement, standardization, and operational excellence in HR services.
Lead adoption of HR technology, analytics, and responsible AI to improve productivity and decision-making.
Promote ethical, secure, and effective use of workforce data.
Build workforce and leadership fluency in data-driven workforce management.
Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and Board of Trustees on workforce, culture, leadership, and organizational risk.
Provide regular insights on workforce trends, engagement, succession, and labor dynamics.
Partner with the Governance Committee on CEO evaluation and performance assessment processes.
Support executive and Board succession planning to ensure leadership continuity.
Qualifications
Education: Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related field is required.
Work Experience: Minimum of 15 years of progressive human resources leadership experience, including significant executive-level responsibility in a large, complex organization. Demonstrated experience leading enterprise workforce strategy, executive compensation, leadership development, and labor management in regulated environments. Experience supporting Boards of Trustees and executive compensation governance.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Master’s degree in human resources, Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Organizational Development, or related field. Executive HR leadership experience in a large, complex healthcare system or similarly regulated industry. Direct experience with executive compensation including evaluation, administration, and Board governance.
Skills / Knowledge / Abilities
Enterprise leadership mindset with strong strategic, financial, and analytical capability.
Deep understanding of healthcare workforce dynamics, labor economics, and regulatory environments.
Proven ability to influence at the Board and executive level.
Demonstrated commitment to values-based leadership, inclusion, and associate experience.
About Health First
At Health First, diversity and inclusion are essential for our continued growth and evolution. Working together, we strive to build and nurture a culture that recognizes, encourages, and respects the diverse voices of our associates. We know through experience that different ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds create a stronger and more collaborative work environment that delivers better results. As an organization, it fuels our innovation and connects us closer to our associates, customers, and the communities we serve.