Duygu Soysanli
It can be difficult to focus on the discourse on HR since the HR world is always evolving. But, following top HR influencers can help you drive business results. How? Well here’s the thing: HR influencers aren’t like your run-of-the-mill Instagram personalities, spamming you with stories and posts, constantly pushing products on you.
More often than not, they are individuals with a huge depth of experience in their field, sharing their insights into the world of people and culture. The insight you receive from the influencers we’ve listed below just may end up changing the way you view HR!
So, if you are ready to learn more about these brilliant and influential individuals, let’s dive right in!
Table of Contents
1. Tara Furiani & Justin Boggs
Tara Furiani pushes boundaries and brings a different perspective to the table with respect to the discussions about HR, leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
She is one of the top HR influencers and she has been recognized by well-known publications such as, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Money Magazine, Business Insider, New York Post, and U.S. News & World Report.
Tara is an author, keynote speaker, and former chief people officer and she is known for her distinctive approach when it comes to creating a more inclusive workplace which includes humor.
She is also the co-creator and co-host of the podcasts and YouTube shows “Not the HR Lady.” along with Justin Boggs who is the COO of NTHRL and her partner. The show tackles workplace issues such as racism and misogyny with humor and thought-provoking discussions.
As a 15-year touring musician with expertise in audio and video engineering, Justin Boggs brings his creativity and musicianship to produce the show.
Below you will find an episode of our podcast, The Team Check-in, where Tara, Justin, and Emre have a delightful discussion about:
- All the empty trends in the world of HR.
- Striking out on your own and pursuing creative work.
- Challenges that come from working with one’s significant other.
- The latest Foo Fighters record.
- Michael Cera’s good looks.
In addition to subscribing to their podcast and YouTube channel, you can follow Tara on LinkedIn and Twitter.
2. William Tincup
William Tincup is one of the top HR influencers and a podcaster, analyst, strategist, writer, speaker, consultant, advisor, investor, and journalist. He says that he can say things that others can’t or won’t and he is harsh but fair.
William Tincup provides guidance for HR practitioners about the HR software that they can use. He also talks to vendors and does demos of the HR software and for this reason, he says he is at the intersection of HR and technology.
Tincup has been sourced as an expert in HR, TA, and future of work in well-known publications such as NYT, WSJ, HBR, HuffPost, Fortune, MSNBC, CNN, Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg News, Investor’s Business Daily, Information Week, Tech Target, Tech Republic, TechCrunch, Fast Company, WIRED, LinkedIn and many more!
William Tincup has two different podcasts The RecruitingDaily Podcast and The Use Case Podcast. A fun and interesting fact about William is that he has podcasted more about HR & TA than anyone in the world but he still hates the sound of his voice.
William Tincup has 246.2K followers on Twitter and 37,536 followers on LinkedIn.
3. Jacob Morgan
Jacob Morgan is a best-selling author who defines himself as a professionally trained futurist. He is passionate about building effective leadership skills with his future-oriented approach.
He graduated with honors from the Business Management Economics and Psychology departments of the University of California Santa Cruz. After finishing his degree, he was excited to join the business world.
His first job was disappointing because he was previously told that he would have exciting duties like traveling the country. But then a few months later he realized that all he was doing were tedious tasks such as data entry, PowerPoint presentations, and cold calling.
When his CEO handed Jacob $10 to buy him a cup of coffee, he understood that this was his last corporate job and after this conversation, he decided to improve the employee experience.
He wrote the best-selling books: Leading with Vulnerability (2023), The Future Leader (Wiley, 2020), The Employee Experience Advantage (Wiley, 2017), The Future of Work (Wiley, 2014), and The Collaborative Organization (McGraw Hill, 2012).
Jacob Morgan discusses topics like leadership, employee experience, and the future of work. Furthermore, he has experience providing advice to organizations and contributing to media and publications such as Forbes, the WSJ, USA Today, INC Magazine, The Harvard Business Review, CNN, and many more.
Jacob Morgan has 26.5K Followers on Twitter and 122,146 followers on LinkedIn. He actively publishes videos on his social media and you can watch this TED Talk to understand what he is all about.
4. Nick DeCourcy
Nick DeCourcy has 20 years of expertise in operations roles across a variety of industries. He is excited and intrigued by the benefits of technology, in other words, how he can help organizations understand digital tools to accomplish more. He thinks that when technology is not implemented the way it should be, it can have detrimental or unexpected effects on projects.
Nick specializes in Microsoft technologies which includes Power Platform, but he is an expert in a variety of product categories including hospitality software and physical security tools.
Nick is passionate about digitizing organizations and we had a chance to discuss digital transformation in organizations during one of our Team Check-In episodes. In our discussion, he explained what digital transformation is not:
“I can tell you very quickly what it’s not, and it’s not going out and finding the latest trendy app and signing up to that and trying it out for two months and then going to the next trendy app and trying that out for two months.”
Nick DeCourcy
Nick believes that when organizations overly rely on software instead of focusing on their unique needs first, they end up failing their company goals. His advice is starting from the organizational needs first and finding the right solution next.
To gain valuable insights into picking the right digital tool, you can follow Nick on his Twitter and LinkedIn.
5. Trish Steed
Trish Steed is the co-host of the HR Happy Hour Podcast as well as the At Work in America Podcast on the HR Happy Hour Network. She is also the co-founder and principal analyst for H3 HR Advisors.
She has over 20 years of experience in public accounting, PR, healthcare, manufacturing, and, IT and she uses her expertise in these fields to assist her clients as an advisor and analyst.
She has a blog where she shares her experiences as a mother who enjoys writing, traveling, and watercolor painting.
You can follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter where she has 15,133K and 42.9K followers respectively.
6. Tim Sackett
Tim Sackett has 20 years of experience in HR/Recruiting and he has a master’s in HR. He is the president at HRU Technical Resources which is a $40M IT and Engineering contract staffing firm and RPO.
With his 20 years of executive HR and talent acquisition experience, Tim is one of the top HR influencers and he is a prominent speaker on topics such as leadership, talent acquisition, and HR execution. He writes on his blog, The Tim Sackett Project, and for Fistful of Talent.
His favorite teacher at school was Ruth Kemp. Ruth Kemp was his English teacher and she forced her class to journal every day for 20 minutes. Tim says he wrote even though he didn’t want to because his English teacher’s reactions to what he wrote were entertaining.
Eventually, Tim realized that he liked writing. Tim says his English teacher Ruth Kemp was the reason his book The Talent Fix happened.
Lastly, Tim has 40.7K Followers on Twitter and you can follow him as well to learn more about him and enjoy his delightful tweets.
7. Meghan Biro
Meghan has empowered hundreds of businesses and helped them recruit top talent including start-ups and well-known companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Google. She is the founder and CEO of TalentCulture and host of the #WorkTrends podcast.
As one of the top HR influencers, she constantly travels to speak at international HR conferences and various shows. She also contributes as a writer for famous publications such as Forbes and Huffington Post.
Meghan Biro describes herself as a rare combination in the world of HR because she is both an HR tech enthusiast and a people person.
She has a big following on social media including 46,786 followers on LinkedIn and 132.6K followers on Twitter.
8. Fermin Diez
As one of the top HR influencers, Fermin Diez has 35 years of experience where he transformed organizations by implementing strategy through people.
He says that he wears multiple hats and has real-world as well as academic experience as a business and HR leader, Board Director & Advisor, University Professor, Thought Leader, and Author in more than 40 countries!
He is at the National Council of Social Service in Singapore at the moment and aims to transform the social service sector’s capabilities and capacity in this country.
He has co-authored three books: ‘Human Capital and Global Business Strategy’, ‘The Remuneration Handbook’ and ‘Fundamentals of HR Analytics’ and he has been named one of the top HR influencers in Asia.
He frequently speaks about compensation, talent management and development, career planning, building teams, global HR, strategic HR, public sector HR practices, and HR Analytics.
When Fermin was younger he wanted to be in good shape to be able to play basketball and tennis. So, his running was a means to an end. But, he enjoyed running marathons later in his life. (He has started running marathons at 62!)
His Personal Bests
- His first 5k was over 38 minutes.
- His first 10k took nearly an hour 20.
- And his first 21k was over 3 hours.
You can find inspirational posts on LinkedIn where he has 10,190 followers.
9. Laurie Ruettimann
Laurie Ruettimann is a highly respected consultant, keynote speaker, and host of the Punk Rock HR podcast.
Her efforts to improve employee retention and job satisfaction through her storytelling and creative solutions resulted in a superior employee experience.
She also has a best-selling book: “Betting on You: How to Put Yourself First and Finally Take Control of Your Career.” At the moment she’s writing her new book, “Corporate Drinker,” which dives deep into surviving the effects of alcohol on work life.
Laurie Ruettimann is a well-known speaker who took part in events of the 92nd St Y, SXSW, Harvard Business School, and other corporate venues. You can find her insightful articles in prominent publications such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR.
Laurie worked hard on amplifying her voice, her presence, and her brand to challenge the bias that dismisses her based on her petite appearance. Some people think that she is loud but despite that misconception of her being loud and obnoxious, she says she is actually mumbly and private in her personal life. She also has a beautiful cat named Roxy, which we think is a perfect name for a cat!
You can follow her on LinkedIn to read her insightful posts where she has 58,968 followers!
10. David Green
As a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR, and the future of work he is among the top HR influencers. In fact, according to LinkedIn, he is one of 10 “Power Profiles” for HR.
Green has been writing prolifically and is active on social media and he thinks that one of the best industry accolades he won is the Best Writer at the HR Tech Writers’ Awards.
With his analytical insights from employee data, Green aims to improve employee experience and their well-being in the workplace.
David Green has 151,136 followers on LinkedIn and 28.3K followers on Twitter.
11. Jennifer Kim
Jennifer Kim says that the people and talent functions at start-up organizations have been neglected and she helps start-ups view people ops as an important business function, as important as engineering or growth.
She aims to make work meaningful for more people through education and entrepreneurship. In her free time, she likes supporting and identifying talent with high potential through coaching and mentorship.
Her first ever recruiting job was at an education reform start-up and she got her hands dirty by hiring >100 people over 1.5 years.
According to Jennifer Kim, start-ups should realize what their employees want and provide them with working environments with this in mind: “Here come work with us instead, and let’s have our goals align so we can both win.”
31,176 followers on LinkedIn and 26.4K followers on Twitter.
12. Kathleen Hogan
Kathleen Hogan is one of the top HR influencers and she is the Chief People Officer at Microsoft. She empowers the 220,000+ global employees while building a culture that inspires passionate and ambitious talent across the globe.
She enjoys creating an inclusive and diverse environment for everyone so they can learn and thrive. She says that her employees and the way they transform the world inspires her.
She is also a board member of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) Executive Council.
She survived breast cancer. She lends her perspective to the Puget Sound affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure as a breast cancer survivor.
Kathleen Hogan has 136,732 followers on LinkedIn.
13. Dalila Wilson-Scott
Dalila Wilson-Scott is among the top HR influencers. She has been named one of the “Most Powerful Women in Cable” by Cablefax Magazine, one of the “Most Powerful Women in Business” by Black Enterprise, and an “Innovative Rising Star: Building Communities” by Forbes magazine.
She has also received the “Wave Maker” Award and was acknowledged as one of the “28 Black Women in Communications Making History Now” by ColorComm. On top of that, she was named “2022 Wonder Woman” by Multichannel News.
Dalila is the Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer of Comcast Corporation and President of the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation. She oversees DEI initiatives and philanthropic strategies by focusing on improving digital equity via Project UP.
Dalila has 16,812 followers on LinkedIn and 3,136 followers on Twitter.
14. Ben Eubanks
Ben Eubanks is one of the top HR influencers and an award-winning speaker. The events he attends include multiple SHRM Annual Conferences, ATD TechKnowledge, HR Technology Conferences, various vendor events, state-level SHRM events, international conferences, workshops, and more.
As one of the top HR influencers who covers the topics of HR/talent technology and trends, he helps vendors understand their clients and prospects via research, market insights, and advisory.
He provides employers with recommendations when it comes to picking their HR tech stack. Moreover, he works with solution providers to help them understand buyer personas, competitive differentiators, and how they can develop their products to solve actual problems.
Other than his family, he is also passionate about providing support to a ministry in San Pedro Las Huertas, Guatemala. He says that he has the pleasure and privilege of supporting young adults who need career training and financial education.
You can follow him on his LinkedIn where he has 36,541 followers.
15. Dave Ulrich
Dave Ulrich is among the top HR influencers but he is also ranked as the #1 management guru by Business Week. He is a professor and he both comes up with original theories while applying them in the field of HR.
He was profiled as one of the top 10 creative people in business by Fast Company and a top 5 coach in Forbes. Moreover, Ulrich was recognized as one of the world’s leading business thinkers. As a university professor and an HR guru, he tackles business problems through his writing, teaching, and consulting.
He has been called the “father of modern HR” and “HR thought leader of the decade” and he shapes the discourse on HR through his inspiring speeches and best-selling books.
He has a massive following on LinkedIn (274,033 followers). He also has a Twitter account with 35.2K followers.
16. Sharlyn Lauby
As one of the top HR influencers, Sharlyn Lauby sees HR as the marketing department for internal clients (employees) and as a strategic partner instead of an administrative component of companies.
She is the author of HR Bartender and the president of ITM Group Inc. which partners with companies to retain and engage their talent. She has 20+ years of expertise in HR with a reputation for creating real impact for organizations.
She focuses her work on organizational development, training, employee relations, and job design.
She has 13,163 followers on LinkedIn and 34.1K followers on Twitter.
17. Jon Ingham
As one of the top HR influencers and a consultant, trainer, speaker, and writer, he concentrates on strategic and innovative management and organization of people.
He focuses on helping practitioners and teams build their strategic capabilities through Jon Ingham Strategic HR Academy.
He penned the books: “Strategic Human Capital Management” (2006) and “The Social Organization” (2017) and contributed to the chapters in “The Executive’s Guide to Integrated Talent Management”, “The Talent Management Handbook”, and “For Love or Money”. Moreover, he collaborated with Dave Ulrich to write the book “Building Better HR Departments”.
Ingham has a BA in Psychology and has a Masters as well as an MBA in Engineering. He is recognized as an authority in HR and he was named one of the “Most Influential Movers and Shakers” by the HR Magazine.
Jon Ingham has 16.6K followers on Twitter and 17,773 followers on LinkedIn.
18. Claude Silver
Claude Silver defines herself as an emotional optimist. She is also a coach, manager, and mentor. She works with nearly 2000 people and she says that she truly connects with each of these employees. She tries to bring empathy to the organization she leads (VaynerMedia) and thinks it’s her purpose and joy.
I don’t necessarily have all the answers; I’m helping our employees find their answers.
Claude Silver
She says that she tries to not make it about her own agenda and she uses her expertise to support her employees in their journey.
Claude Silver has 40,503 followers on LinkedIn and 12.000 followers on Twitter.
