Governing Body Spotlight

Kirsten Van Hulzen is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Marsden Services. She is responsible for the Human Resource strategy for the Marsden enterprise, which includes developing and executing business plans around talent management, employee engagement, organizational performance, and change management. She has over twenty years of Human Resources experience and is known for building, leading, and mobilizing cross-functional teams to deliver on business goals.  

A fun fact about Kirsten, she has been to over 60 countries and almost always has her next trip planned.

Learn more about the Minneapolis CHRO community here.
 

Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.

In college, I was majoring in Communication with the dream of being an on-air personality, but a summer temp job in HR changed my course. After graduating with degrees in HR and Spanish, I started my career in HR at Lifetouch where I enjoyed 22 years of increasing responsibility. When my position as a Senior Director of HR Operations was eliminated, I found a great position as a VP of HR at Marsden. Within a year, I was promoted to CHRO.
 

What is one of your guiding leadership principles?

Debate and commit. I'm collaborative, so I want my leadership team to have meaty conversations, share their thoughts and openly debate the issues. But once a decision is made, I believe it's important that we present a unified front and move forward in the decided direction together.
 

What is the greatest challenge CHROs face today, and how are you addressing it?

I believe that one of the greatest challenges is the pace of change. The executive team and I are trying to prioritize and stick to those priorities. We are also focused on change management and better communication with our people.

How do you measure success as a leader?

While there are many metrics and KPIs by which you can measure the success of a business, I don't believe that measuring the success of a leader is quite so simple. When measuring my own success, I consider if I'm doing my best for my people and for my company. I look at if I'm collaborating effectively and advocating for my team. I ponder if I'm building an atmosphere that fosters development and innovation.
 

Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.