If You Want a Seat, Bring the Value:  HR's Ticket to the Dance

Fireside Chat with Barbara Kennedy and Jonathan Keyser as Moderator

Barbara Kennedy is a seasoned CHRO and enterprise leader with over two decades of experience building, transforming, and scaling HR organizations across complex, high-growth environments. She has led HR since age 28, built multiple HR functions from scratch, and guided organizations through rapid growth, global complexity, and significant operational change.

Her leadership philosophy centers on earning a seat at the table through operational excellence, credibility, and business impact—what she calls “the ticket to the dance.” She emphasizes mastery of core HR, pragmatic execution, continuous improvement, and strong partnerships with the C-suite.

Barbara is known for being practical, direct, and forward-looking—leveraging technology (e.g., Workday super-user implementation), developing talent through stretch assignments, and managing purposeful turnover to raise the bar as organizations scale. She brings a unique perspective on the evolving role of the CHRO, including emerging risks to the function’s strategic standing.

Our Speakers

Barbara Kennedy

Barbara J. Kennedy is Chief Human Resources Officer of Western Alliance Bank. Ms. Kennedy oversees human resources, training, talent development and recruitment for Western Alliance, which has 3,500+ employees across the country.

A strong mentor and culture champion, Ms. Kennedy brings more than 20 years of experience with national and multinational companies in the human resources discipline. Prior to joining Western Alliance, Ms. Kennedy was senior vice president of human resources for San Diego-based Encore Capital Group. She also held senior HR positions with United Stationers Supply Company and Swift Transportation Corporation.

Ms. Kennedy, who was named one of Arizona’s Most Influential Women in 2021, currently serves on the Board of Directors for Valley of the Sun YMCA. She previously served on the boards of Ryan House, helping children and families navigate their unique care journeys, and Novo Group, a national recruiting and management consulting firm.

She is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Jonathan Keyser

Jonathan Keyser is the Founder and Managing Partner of Keyser Commercial Real Estate (http://www.keyser.com/), one of the largest and most innovative, independent commercial real estate advisory firms in the country. Named "The Commercial Real Estate Disruptor" by USA Today, Keyser has grown into an eight-figure firm, which was named as one of the Top 50 Most Trustworthy Companies in America, a Top Impact Company, and an Inc. Magazine Best Places to Work. 

 On the personal side, Jonathan is a #1 Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author for his book, “You Don’t Have to be Ruthless to Win”, and has also been named a "Top Social Capital CEO" by the International Business Times. He is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, a thought leader featured in over 150 articles, publications, and podcasts, and has been recognized as one of the top speakers in the country on commercial real estate topics. Jonathan is married to his wife Susanna, and has 6 children with one on the way.

Event Sponsored by

This program has been submitted for 1.0 SHRM-PDC Recertification Credit and 1.0 HRCI Business (Strategy) Recertification Credit