HR on the board: HR professionals are providing some much-needed expertise as members of boards of directors

HR Magazine, June, 2004 by Robert J. Grossman

A fellow HR professional on the board also may serve as a mentor for the executive. When Tom Northescold rotated into the top HR role from a line position at St. Jude Medical, he got support from Wendy Yarno, chair of St. Jude's Compensation Committee. "It works well because he knows I have the expertise, and he's not afraid to bounce things off me," says Yarno.

"She's a role model for me," Northescold confirms. "Wendy and I have developed a good working relationship. I respect her knowledge and often tap into her experience base at Merck."

On the other hand, some HR executives are not open to the potential benefits of having an HR leader on the board, says Fred Foulkes, director of the HR Policy Institute at Boston University and a member of the board at Bright Horizons Family Solutions in Watertown, Mass. Foulkes knows instances where HR executives, guarding their status as internal advisers to the CEO and board committees, have discouraged adding outside directors with HR expertise.

"In some cases, the person who resists the most is the head of HR at the company, thinking, 'That's my job; I don't want someone on the board shadowing me,'" he says.

ROBERT J. GROSSMAN, A CONTRIBUTING EDITOR OF HR MAGAZINE, IS A LAWYER AND A PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES AT MARIST COLLEGE IN POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.