With 25 years of business and HR leadership experience, Joanne Rencher currently serves as the chief people officer of the national office of the Girl Scouts of the USA. She has responsibilities for the strategies and execution of talent and culture activities. She also serves as a member of the executive team.
With her passion for developing business leaders across the HR field, she recently launched Who’s Got Next in HR?, Inc. (www.wgninhr.org). WGNinHR, a membership based organization, is challenging conventional wisdom around career paths for HR professionals who dare to ask "what’s next?" -- whether within or outside of HR; across the C-Suite, including the top seat.
Prior to the Girl Scouts and founding WGNinHR, she served as the vice president of human capital for The New Teacher Project and as a nonprofit consultant, leading innovations in the education reform and nonprofit sectors, respectively.
Before working as a nonprofit consultant, she served as the chief people officer for the American Red Cross in Greater New York. There, she held both human resources and P&L responsibilities as a member of the executive team.
In 2001, she was recruited to build a global human resources unit from the ground floor, and nearly seven years later, she was leading a matrixed team on four continents and in six countries for the first public-private partnership to work on advocacy and vaccine research/development for an AIDS vaccine -- the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
She began her career in a bond insurance company, part of the GE/GE Capital conglomerate. She was part of the team that led FGIC through a proactive company "reinvention," winning several leadership awards. She later accepted a role as an HR manager, which began her move through progressively responsible roles.
