Features Region: West

While Tonia Douglas may not know as much about the Hankey Group as its principal, Don Hankey, she’s not far behind him in understanding the operations and services offered by its 11 operating companies. Of course, as vice president of human resources, she needs to understand the companies as she and her team manage payroll, […]

It was almost 20 years ago that Patricia Peña Sam found herself at a career crossroads while working as a case manager and executive team leader for a social service agency that worked with at-risk youth. From coordinating education, leadership and volunteer opportunities to helping prepare agency clients for the working world, the job was […]

After studying psychology in college, Ken Moses says he developed the ability to read people and understand what a person does and doesn’t want. Throughout his career in human resources, he says he’s learned that employees want a safe work environment and a company that treats them with respect, provides an opportunity for growth and […]

As long as there have been people in America, there has been tobacco. In fact, tobacco started growing in North America about 8,000 years ago. But as the years have passed, more and more regulations have been enacted to cut back on the use of tobacco and tobacco products—most notably cigarettes. Ben Chaney says his […]

One of Juana Gomez’s most vivid childhood memories is of crouching in a field at dawn, shivering, as she picked lettuce with freezing fingertips. Her father was then a farm manager at a lettuce company, and he needed extra help in the fields.  Fast-forward a few years: Gomez, at 16, was still helping at the […]

From when she was a girl hearing her dad talk about his work arbitrating labor disputes, Laurel Timmins knew she wanted to work in human resources.  But not because she wanted to resolve issues after they occurred—she wanted to help provide solutions while being part of an HR department that’s integral to a company’s operations […]

When Susi Takeuchi was interviewing to be chief human resources officer at UCLA Health, her husband needed a second opinion due to complications from a kidney transplant.  She approached the chair of the UCLA Health search committee, a former kidney transplant surgeon. He referred her husband to Dr. Jeff Veale, who was able to see […]

Growing up in Memphis Tennessee, Rochelle Noone became acutely aware of prejudice and racial injustice, especially following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What she saw—and experienced—remained with Noone as she grew and took on leadership roles in human resources at companies including Telecare Corp. and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in the San […]

That old western adage of “this town ain’t big enough for both of us” must have gone through the minds of at least some employees at Community One Federal Credit Union in 2009. Their Nevada firm had just been acquired by a bigger operation, the Utah-headquartered America First Credit Union, and that usually means the […]

There wasn’t an election or formal inauguration and the song “Hail to the Chief” doesn’t play when she enters the room. For Brittni Daley-Grishaeva, the title of president is just that—a title. “The title doesn’t define a person as much as their character, values and results,” says Daley-Grishaeva, the president and chief financial officer for […]