16 www.hrreporter.com
F E A T U R E S
F E A T U R E S
AFTER 'CRAZY YEAR,' HR STILL
HAS LOTS OF WORK TO DO
While the world came screeching to a halt in 2020, HR had no choice but to pick
up and carry on despite unprecedented changes. That perseverance has led to
'heroic' efforts that have elevated the profession — and will continue indefinitely,
says Sarah Dobson in speaking with five HR leaders from across the country
HR LEADERS TALK:
Kerris Hougardy John Pershing Angela Langille Donna Fagon-Pascal Nathalie Dubois
As vice president of
people services for North
America at Colliers, Kerris
provides HR leadership
to support all business
units across the U.S. and
Canada — roughly 7,000
professionals
As executive vice
president and CHRO
at Canadian Tire
Corporation, John is
responsible for all aspects
of the talent function, and
previously worked at Best
Buy for over 20 years
With Lindsay Construction
for more than eight years,
the director of corporate
HR and stakeholder
engagement oversees
roughly 500 employees
and previously worked at
Sobeys
As vice president of
human resources and
communications for
more than five years at
Dynacare, Donna has
previously worked at
Acklands-Grainger and
Staples
As vice president of
human resources
at Hydro-Québec,
Nathalie has worked
there for a total of eight
years and oversees
a workforce of about
20,000 employees
"People started talking a lot more about their personal well-being because of the
impact of the pandemic — the isolation, the pressure, just being afraid... Many
leaders really started to see why it was so critical because it impacts presenteeism
and absenteeism, productivity — there were so many reasons why we needed to
focus on it."
