"If you never ask, the answer's always no." — Monique Herena

Monique Herena didn't set out to become a CHRO — she stumbled into HR at a career fair she almost skipped on her way out with friends. Thirty years and four companies later, she's Chief Colleague Experience Officer at American Express and the longest-serving member of the CHRO Association's executive committee. In this episode, she talks with Tim Bartl about what it actually takes to lead at that level. What's the throughline?

"The higher level you get, including in this job, the less you hear," she says. "So you've got to create an environment where people feel like they can speak up." That belief shows up everywhere in her story — in a late-night email to her CEO flagging a mistake before it happened, in a family built around shared risk-taking across five relocations, and in her conviction that AI is a leadership challenge before it's a technology one. What does courage actually cost, and what does it buy back?

Monique R. Herena is Chief Colleague Experience Officer at American Express and the longest-serving member of the CHRO Association's executive committee, with nearly 13 years as a CHRO and more than 30 years in HR. Her path ran through executive search and consulting, Quaker Oats, Allied Signal/Honeywell, PepsiCo, and BNY before American Express. While serving as BNY's CHRO, she earned a master's in change leadership and organizational psychology from Columbia's Teachers College — and later started a family scholarship fund for change-leadership graduate students. A self-described "agitator" and systems thinker, she leads with the belief that HR's job is to accelerate the business, not sit beside it.

In this episode:

• (00:00) The four things people say about Monique — business leader, tough, change agitator, team player
• (06:42) Why collective intelligence means no one gets left on the bench
• (13:23) The career fair that accidentally launched an HR career
• (26:31) Career lessons from Quaker, Allied Signal, and PepsiCo — and the email that could have cost her job
• (36:47) Team Herena — moving the family through Dubai, the Bahamas, and beyond
• (41:24) Going back to school at Columbia while running HR at BNY
• (45:35) AI as a leadership transformation, and Monique's final lesson on results, planning, and risk

Lessons from the Field is a podcast from the CHRO Association, the only independent community built for Chief Human Resource Officers. Each episode sits down with today's leading CHROs and business leaders to unpack the defining moments, hard-won decisions, and career-shaping experiences behind their leadership. The series draws on the same lived experience and peer insight that make the CHRO Association a trusted resource for the leaders that boards and CEOs rely on — bringing that wisdom directly to listeners navigating their own HR careers. It's a show about how great leadership is actually built: in the boardroom, in a hallway conversation, and in the moments no one else sees. Where Policy Meets Practice.

Monique Herena — CHRO Association profile: https://www.chro.org/w/monique-r-herena

Monique Herena — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniqueherena/

CHRO Association website: https://www.chro.org

"Not waiting to make some difficult choices is really in your best interest, because you're going to end up making them anyway." — Kim Hauer

Kim Hauer didn't plan a career in HR. It found her during a college internship at Caterpillar, when an assignment to interview an HR manager turned into a job offer. Nearly 20 years later, she was the company's CHRO. In this episode, Hauer, now Executive Vice President and Chief HR Officer at SC Johnson, tells Ani Huang about the moment that changed how she leads: fainting in a hallway overseas after saying yes to everything. "I have to lead and operate differently," she realized, "and take control of my career."

Hauer explains why nobody hands you a seat at the table. "You earn your seat at the table," she says, "and if you add value, good things will come." She shares how she caught a costly mistake during an acquisition, why she moved a star performer out of her comfort zone, and how transparency during layoffs built trust instead of breaking it. What does resilience really look like when the job never stops? And what's the one lesson she hopes outlasts her career?

Kim Hauer is Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at SC Johnson, a 130-year-old company with $10 billion in annual sales and 13,000 employees worldwide. She joined after nearly 20 years at Caterpillar, starting as a college intern and rising to Chief Human Resources Officer, leading HR across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. She also held roles in compensation and benefits, including a stint in Belgium. Hauer holds a bachelor's degree in management from Purdue University and is a certified HR professional.

In this episode:

• (00:00) Introduction: you earn your seat at the table

• (01:13) Welcoming Kim Hauer, CHRO of SC Johnson

• (01:58) From Caterpillar intern to a 20-year HR career

• (03:39) The hallway fainting story that changed how she leads

• (06:24) Earning influence and a seat in the deal room

• (09:10) Leading a major organizational shift as a first-time CHRO

• (13:23) Redefining resilience and integrating work and family

• (20:28) Building culture through transparency, developing talent, and the lesson she hopes outlasts her

About the Show:

Lessons from the Field is a podcast from the CHRO Association, the only independent community built for Chief Human Resource Officers. Hosted by Ani Huang, each episode sits down with today's leading CHROs and business leaders to unpack the defining moments, hard-won decisions, and career-shaping experiences behind their leadership. The series draws on the same lived experience and peer insight that make the CHRO Association a trusted resource for the leaders that boards and CEOs rely on — bringing that wisdom directly to listeners navigating their own HR careers. It's a show about how great leadership is actually built: in the boardroom, in a hallway conversation, and in the moments no one else sees. Where Policy Meets Practice.

Resources

Kim Hauer Profile: ⁠https://www.chro.org/w/kimberly-s-hauer ⁠

CHRO Association website:⁠ https://www.chro.org⁠

"It's not culture fit, it's culture add." — Jacqueline Welch

Jacqueline Welch became EVP and CHRO of The New York Times just as a pandemic, civil unrest, and political upheaval converged. In this episode, she tells host Ani Huang how that collision shaped her leadership — and shares the moment a grieving employee in a restroom led her to rewrite a company's bereavement policy on the spot. "It's not culture fit, it's culture add," she says, describing how she weighs hires against the health of a team.

Welch also redefines resilience away from burnout and toward staying anchored to an objective despite setbacks. She opens up about being an introvert with a decades-long journaling habit, a strict sleep routine, and a hard-won lesson from her Andersen Consulting days: once you say something, you can't take it back. What's the line between speaking up and staying quiet? Welch has spent a career finding it.

Jacqueline M. Welch is Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of The New York Times, where she leads talent acquisition, career development, compensation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion for the organization. She joined the Times in January 2021 from Freddie Mac, where she served as SVP, CHRO, and Chief Diversity Officer. Earlier in her career, Welch held senior HR roles at Turner Broadcasting System, WestRock, Accenture, and Willis Towers Watson. She holds a B.A. in English from Syracuse University and an M.S. in Human Resources Management from The New School.

In this episode:

• (00:00) The biggest surprise of a CHRO career: pandemic, civil unrest, and political upheaval all at once

• (03:39) A defining moment: rewriting a bereavement policy after witnessing a colleague's grief

• (07:13) Redefining strategic influence: being "duty bound and morally obligated" to speak up

• (11:05) Culture add, not culture fit: a hiring decision that tested her convictions

• (13:40) What resilience really means — and what it isn't

• (19:44) Finding grounding as an introvert: journaling, sleep architecture, and life without loneliness

• (24:48) The lesson she hopes outlasts her: "watch what you say"

About the Show

Lessons from the Field is a podcast from the CHRO Association, the only independent community built for Chief Human Resource Officers. Hosted by Ani Huang, each episode sits down with today's leading CHROs and business leaders to unpack the defining moments, hard-won decisions, and career-shaping experiences behind their leadership. The series draws on the same lived experience and peer insight that make the CHRO Association a trusted resource for the leaders that boards and CEOs rely on — bringing that wisdom directly to listeners navigating their own HR careers. It's a show about how great leadership is actually built: in the boardroom, in a hallway conversation, and in the moments no one else sees. Where Policy Meets Practice.

Resources

The New York Times:⁠ https://www.nytimes.com⁠

CHRO Association website:⁠ https://www.chro.org⁠