housands of HR professionals gathered in Chicago on Sunday, June 22, to kick
off the 60th Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference & Exposition.
The event was the end of one era but not the beginning of another.
In a speech at the opening session, Susan Meisinger, SHRM
president and CEO, said farewell to the organization she has headed for the past
six years. Meisinger, 55, will retire on June 30.
But her successor
will not be introduced at the conference,
which lasts through Wednesday, June 25. At a press conference on the opening day, Meisinger said that
China Miner Gorman, SHRM chief operating officer, would assume
chief executive responsibilities until a new CEO is appointed.
The search committee and SHRM board have set a goal of selecting
a CEO by August 1, Meisinger said.
"It’s very far along," she said of the search process.
With a new leader still in the wings, Meisinger had the stage
to herself in Chicago. She used her opening remarks to exhort HR practitioners to
be bold and aggressive in contributing to their companies and shaping their own
careers.
"Please stop asking for a seat at the table," she said. "The
point is to add value and become essential to your organization … to work in such
a way that the seat has your name carved into it."
Meisinger, 55, has spent 20 years at SHRM and served for the
past six as CEO. She
announced her retirement in January, saying that she wanted
to spend more time with family members who are in failing health.
Although Meisinger will make appearances throughout the week
in Chicago, her opening-session remarks essentially were her valedictory. She took
a moment to thank SHRM’s membership, which has grown from 170,000 at the beginning
of her tenure to 245,000 today.
"You and SHRM have owned a piece of my heart for these many
years," she said.
Robb Van Cleave, the chairman-designate of the SHRM board,
credited Meisinger for improving SHRM and the HR profession.
"She’s championed a new agenda for HR," Van Cleave said. "Sue
taught us what strategic HR can accomplish."
During a press conference later in the day, Meisinger outlined
SHRM priorities. The organization is conducting research on diversity and managing
across borders. It is working with more than two dozen universities to develop curricula
for HR undergraduate and graduate courses. It also is developing a program to help
HR lead company sustainability efforts.
Meisinger also stressed SHRM’s influence on public policy.
The organization is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington,
and has a strong presence on Capitol Hill. Meisinger began her SHRM career in government
relations.
She touted the fact that SHRM has become the first business
organization to endorse a bill that would ban workplace discrimination based on
sexual orientation. The measure was approved this year by the House and may get
a Senate vote this summer.
SHRM announced its position last week. Advocates have eased
the bill’s path through Congress by removing provisions regarding transgender workers.
SHRM also was part of a business coalition that worked with
the disability community to secure a compromise on a bill that would amend the American
With Disabilities Act. It was approved overwhelmingly by House committees last week.
Meisinger used the bills to illustrate that HR can be a catalyst
for overcoming corporate inertia and making the workplace more diverse and fair.
"We need to be that third option between action and inaction,
between ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ " she said.
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