Next Gen Talent

We’re proud to spotlight Next Gen Talent alumna Brook Hughes, SHRM-CP (2025 Cohort) and the impact she’s already making. Since completing Next Gen Talent, Brook has stepped into a new role with the City of Westfield, Indiana, where she’s playing a bigger role in shaping programs and initiatives that support her team. Her work has become increasingly strategic — especially in onboarding, employee experience, and program development. What she’s most proud of? Turning ideas into something tangible — programs and processes that truly make a difference for people. One of Brook’s biggest takeaways from Next Gen Talent: Great work doesn’t happen in a silo. She continues to lean into building relationships across departments and perspectives — reaching out, asking questions, and collaborating early to drive better outcomes. Her advice to current participants: Be intentional and speak up. Connect with people you wouldn’t normally interact with. Ask questions. Share ideas. Step outside your comfort zone. The more you put into the experience, the more you’ll get out of it — and it goes faster than you think. Brook, we love seeing the impact you’re making with the City of Westfield and beyond. Here's to you and your ever-expanding influence! 👏 #NextGenTalent #LeadershipDevelopment #EmployeeExperience #HRLeadership #NextGenTalentAlumni

HR leaders don’t become strategic by title … They become strategic by how they show up. Today’s Next Gen Talent session focused on the CHRO perspective — and what it really takes to partner at the highest levels of the business. We are grateful for the honesty and insight from our CHRO panelists as they unpacked everything from CEO alignment to navigating tough relationships and telling the story of HR’s impact. Three takeaways that stood out: • Know the business — and stay curious. The strongest HR leaders deeply understand how the business works and ask better questions to stay aligned and relevant. • Build trust through credibility (over time). Trust isn’t assumed at the exec table — it’s earned through consistency, follow-through, and understanding how each leader operates. • Lead with agility and humility. Every leader and situation is different… the ability to adapt, listen, and proactively navigate tension is what sets great partners apart. This is the work. Not just supporting the business — but truly partnering with it. #LeadershipDevelopment #HRLeadership #NextGenTalent Ads do not influence the answers you get from ChatGPT. Your chats stay private. Learn about ads and personalization

We’re proud to spotlight Next Gen Talent alum Matt Heiden and the leadership impact he continues to make. 👏 Since completing Next Gen Talent, Matt has leaned into the leader he was becoming . . . first leading a recruiting team, then stepping into broader HR leadership, and today serving as Director of Talent at Blue Ridge Inc. For Matt, one of the biggest shifts coming out of the program was confidence. Next Gen Talent helped him move past the feeling of imposter syndrome and trust his instincts as a leader. As his career evolved, he embraced opportunities to build and lead teams while helping shape the culture and direction of the organizations he serves . . . something he says he’s most proud of. Another mindset that stuck with him: great HR leaders understand the whole business. Even while working in a smaller organization where he interacted with many functions, Next Gen Talent reinforced the importance of continuing to build relationships across finance, operations, engineering, and beyond in order to grow as a strategic HR leader. His advice to current participants is simple and powerful: The work you do matters. But the relationships you build matter even more. Invest in connections inside and outside your organization. Those relationships multiply your ability to make an impact as an HR professional. Matt, we love seeing the leadership impact you’re making at Blue Ridge and beyond! Here's to your ever-expanding influence! #NextGenTalent #LeadershipDevelopment #HRLeadership #TalentLeadership #NextGenTalentAlumni

This month, Next Gen Talent is focused on the mission-critical relationship between the CEO and CHRO. Today, we focused on the CEO perspective during a powerful panel conversation with Andrea Short, Matt Odum, and Amy Brown. They provided golden advice to our participants: • Be willing to challenge the business. Credibility grows when leaders know you’ll tell them the truth — even when it’s uncomfortable. • Focus on real business challenges. Strategic HR leaders bring ideas and solutions tied to what matters most to the organization. • Quantify the impact. The more you can translate people strategies into business outcomes, the stronger HR’s influence becomes. We are grateful for the candor from these leaders and the thoughtful questions from our emerging HR leaders. Next up: the CHRO perspective. #LeadershipDevelopment #HRLeadership #NextGenTalent

The CEO–CHRO relationship is one of the most important partnerships in any organization . . . and one of the least talked about. This month Next Gen Talent is exploring what makes that partnership work by hosting two panels: One with CEOs. One with CHROs. Three things consistently show up in the strongest partnerships: 1. Shared business ownership: Great CHROs think like business leaders. Great CEOs see talent and culture as core strategy, not support functions. 2. Radical candor and trust: The CHRO is often the only person expected to tell the CEO the truth about leadership, culture, and the team. That only works when the CEO truly wants to hear it. 3. Alignment on culture and leadership standards: Culture isn’t owned by HR. It’s owned by the CEO and enabled by the CHRO. When they’re aligned on what great leadership looks like, organizations thrive. When this partnership works, the ripple effect is felt everywhere. What is YOUR experience of a great CEO-CHRO partnership? And what is the IMPACT of that partnership?

We’re proud to spotlight Next Gen Talent alumna Nicole Cerqua, M.A. and the leadership impact she continues to make. 🎉 Since completing Next Gen Talent in 2022 as an HR Manager at Encore, Nicole has continued to grow her leadership influence — moving from Senior HR Manager to Director of Talent Management & Corporate HR, and most recently being promoted into a Senior Director of Talent Management role. When asked what she’s most proud of, Nicole didn’t point to a title. She pointed to people, building a strong talent team, and showing up as an authentic leader they can rely on. One of the most powerful parts of Nicole’s Next Gen Talent experience was mentorship. She still meets monthly with her mentor years later, crediting that relationship with helping her shift from being execution focused to thinking more strategically and forward-looking — a shift that helped accelerate her career growth. Her advice for emerging HR leaders: lean into the relationships. Connect with peers, mentors, sponsors, and subject matter experts. Seek perspective, ask questions, and build trusted partnerships. Those relationships don’t just support learning — they can open doors for future growth. Nicole, we love seeing the leadership impact you’re making at Encore. Keep going . . . the world needs more of YOU!👏 #NextGenTalent #LeadershipDevelopment #Mentorship #TalentManagement

RESOLVE 2026 is coming! 🥳 We are gearing up for the best year yet at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. This event is really special to me, and I would love to have you join us! It's going to be an incredible day, with motivating and thought-provoking content, collaboration with other business leaders, and an unbelievable amount of fun. We can't wait to kick off 🏀 March Madness 🏀 with you all in the basketball capital! 🎟️ Registration link in the comments!

Can you believe this RESOLVE panel?! Dream come true for me. As an avid fan and believer of women in sports, I’ve wanted to have a conversation like this for years. And here we are! This is going to be a very special session to start an incredible day! Huge kudos to Sarah Myer for helping me pull together this inspiring group of women! Join us at RESOLVE on March 11th and Gainbridge Fieldhouse. You won’t regret it! Registration link and discount code in the comments!

Everyone loves a gold medal moment. 🥇 But what we don’t see is the discipline, the setbacks and the reinvention behind it.  On March 11th at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, RESOLVE closes with Lindsay Tarpley, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist turned entrepreneur and international keynote speaker.  She has competed at the highest level. She has faced a career-ending injury. She has built a powerful second chapter.  If you are thinking about performance, leadership, or what it really takes to raise your standards this year, this is the conversation to be in.  Ticket link in comments! 

We’re grateful for our partnership with ADVISA, who recently worked with our current Next Gen Talent cohort to administer and debrief the Predictive Index (PI) assessment as part of our Cohort Connect experience. The PI debrief is more than a personality overview. It is a powerful growth moment. Participants gained: • Greater self-awareness around their natural drives and leadership styles • Language to articulate their strengths and development areas • Insight into how they show up on teams • Clarity on how to flex their leadership skills to better influence and collaborate For emerging leaders, this kind of leadership development is transformational. When leaders understand their behavioral patterns and workplace needs, they make more intentional choices. They communicate more effectively. They lead with confidence instead of guesswork. At Next Gen Talent, we believe leadership growth starts from the inside out . . . and tools like the Predictive Index, paired with expert debrief and coaching, accelerate that journey. Thank you, ADVISA, for investing in the growth of this exceptional group. The impact will extend far beyond the cohort experience. #LeadershipDevelopment #EmergingLeaders #LeadershipSkills #LeadershipCoaching #NextGenTalent #PredictiveIndex