Regional Chief Human Resources Officer
University of Michigan Health Regional System
Michigan Medicine

The Opportunity
Position: Regional Chief Human Resources Officer
Location: Lansing, MI
Reporting Relationship: The Regional Chief Human Resources Officer reports directly to Margaret Dimond, PhD, System President – University of Michigan Health Regional System
Website: https://www.uofmhealth.org/

This is a rare and compelling opportunity to step into a newly regionalized, mission-driven health system at a moment when the foundation has been thoughtfully built—and the next phase requires strategic leadership, innovation, and momentum. The University of Michigan is among the world’s premier public universities, recognized globally for excellence across its 19 schools and colleges, more than 275 academic programs, and extraordinary faculty and research enterprise. Embedded within this institution is Michigan Medicine, consistently ranked among the nation’s leading academic medical centers and health systems and widely recognized as an employer of choice.

Over the past several years, Michigan Medicine has made deliberate progress toward a unified statewide model of care. That vision was significantly accelerated through the 2023 merger of University of Michigan Health and Sparrow Health System, building upon the earlier integration of U?M Health-West. Together, these organizations now form the University of Michigan Health Regional System, encompassing multiple hospitals and community-based settings across Michigan and employing approximately 11,000 team members. The Regional System operates as part of the larger U?M Health network, which generates $7.8 billion in revenue, employs more than 46,000 people, and serves approximately 1.3 million patients annually.

Since the appointment of Regional President Margaret Dimond, PhD, an entirely new regional leadership team has been assembled, governance has been formally regionalized, and several core administrative functions—including Human Resources—have transitioned to a fully regional operating model. Enormous progress has already been made. The retiring Regional CHRO has successfully led complex integration efforts across legacy Sparrow (including a Level I trauma center), U?M Health-West, and four additional community hospitals; supported more than 1,200 physicians; stabilized labor relations; and established leadership development institutes across the region.

At the same time, the organization now stands at an inflection point. With much of the tactical integration work complete, the next Regional Chief Human Resources Officer must elevate and modernize the function —bringing external perspective and strategic vision to a highly capable and focused HR team of approximately 76 professionals. While the team is highly competent and deeply invested in the mission, there is acknowledgment that HR systems, including the end of life ERP, and lack of integrated systems between the entities result in duplication of efforts and inefficient processes. Participation in selection and implementation of the new ERP system will be a multi-year priority for the new Regional CHRO.

While at the same time, the Regional CHRO will be instrumental in continuing the efforts of creating and executing strategy around equitable team member experience across the region, despite lingering differences in policies, benefits, systems, and culture between legacy Sparrow and U?M Health-West (which represents roughly one-third of the regional workforce). Although shared leadership development programs are already in place, further work is needed to fully align manager capability, strengthen accountability, and continue shifting from historically top-down decision-making toward empowered, high-performing leaders who own their operational and people outcomes.

Labor relations will be a central and ongoing dimension of the role. The region operates in a highly unionized environment, with increasing organizing activity and evolving representation, particularly among advanced practice providers. Navigating this landscape requires sophistication, credibility, and strong partnership with executive leadership, the Board, and external stakeholders, while maintaining focus on employee engagement, operational performance, and patient care.

The Regional CHRO will serve as a key member of the Regional executive leadership team, partnering closely with the Regional President, COO, and Finance leadership, as well as with Jovita, the CHRO of the academic enterprise, as a peer collaborator across the broader University. The role also interacts directly with the Regional HR Committee of the Board. Financial stewardship and workforce strategy are tightly linked, particularly as the region continues its recovery from prior financial losses and works to sustain stability and growth without regressing.

Looking ahead, the region is expected to continue expanding. The Regional CHRO will also play a critical role in major enterprise initiatives, including the implementation of a new ERP platform and OneEPIC, offering the opportunity to help shape future-state systems and processes for both clinical and academic operations over the long term.

This role requires a leader who can balance pace and reflection while also providing strategic counsel, organizational steadiness, and disciplined change leadership.

For an accomplished HR executive seeking a role with scale, complexity, influence, and mission-driven impact, this is a defining opportunity to shape the future of a growing regional health system at one of the world’s great public institutions.

The Organization
University of Michigan - Health Network
University of Michigan Health Network, comprised of the legacy organizations of Sparrow Health System and University of Michigan-West, including their respective medical groups, have joined together to create a high quality statewide network. The goal of creating a statewide health system is to provide extraordinary care across the state of Michigan. Combining legacy systems, University of Michigan Health-West and Sparrow Health System to establish the Regional Health system, and further integrating with the academic medical center (University of Michigan Health Ann Arbor), requires ongoing integration and tremendous collaboration. Much of the integration work to date has been “business” focused. The University of Michigan Health is now moving toward clinical integration, which requires establishing the infrastructure, programs, and relationships to drive exemplary access, safety, quality, and experience for UMH patients and the communities it serves. The key pillars of clinical integration initiative include:

• Advancing Population Health
• Expanding Local Clinical Programs
• Achieving Coordinated, Statewide Clinical Care
• Leveraging Innovative Technology Infrastructure

University of Michigan Health-Sparrow Health System has grown to become the region’s largest health system, and its diverse range of facilities offer some of the most advanced medical technology available in the world. University of Michigan Health-Sparrow’s impact is felt across Mid-Michigan at more than 115 sites of care: at University of Michigan Health-Sparrow Lansing, community hospitals in Carson City, Charlotte, Ionia and St. Johns, and the 526 primary care providers and specialists serving patients across the region. University of Michigan Health-Sparrow provides the best emergency care in Mid-Michigan as the region’s only Level 1 Trauma Center. The health system also offers dozens of satellite care centers, University of Michigan Health-Sparrow Health Center Lansing, the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow Health Science Pavilion, and the only hospital-based health clubs in mid-Michigan, the Michigan Athletic Club and AL!VE. University of Michigan Health-Sparrow partners with leading medical organizations to offer expanded healthcare services throughout the Mid-Michigan region. For more information, visit https://www.uofmhealthsparrow.org/

University of Michigan Health-West is a nonprofit multispecialty medical provider that is relentlessly advancing health to serve West Michigan as part of the state’s top-ranked health system. Founded in Grand Rapids in 1942 by a group of osteopathic doctors, our organization today serves more than 250,000 patients annually at 30 locations across four counties, including a 208-bed teaching hospital in Wyoming, Michigan. More than 61,000 emergency patients are treated each year at the hospital, a Verified Level II Trauma Center, certified Comprehensive Stroke Center and accredited Chest Pain Center. Our physician-led medical group, University of Michigan Health Partners, drives excellence and convenient access to primary and specialty care, including the expertise of University of Michigan Health, consistently ranked among the nation’s top academic medical centers. In addition to earning top grades for safety and quality, University of Michigan Health-West is consistently recognized as a leader in the use of technology and as an inclusive employer of choice. It supports the health and wellness of all in the community, offering free Live Healthy education programs as well as outreach clinics to underserved areas. For more information visit https://uofmhealthwest.org/about/.

Regional System, University of Michigan Health

Key Statistics Table – FY2023

The Position
The Regional Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is a strategic executive responsible for leading enterprise-wide human capital strategy across multiple hospital locations. The CHRO ensures workforce readiness, regulatory compliance, clinical and non-clinical talent sustainability, and organizational resilience while aligning people strategy with patient care quality, safety, financial performance, and community mission.

Direct Reports: The Regional Chief Human Resources Officer leads a highly experienced regional HR leadership team. Positions that report directly to this role include:

• Regional Director, Human Resources Operations
• Regional Director, Benefits
• Regional Director, Talent Acquisition and Compensation
• Regional Director, Provider Compensation
• Senior Labor Adviser
• Executive Assistant

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO, Board, and Executive Leadership Team on workforce trends, labor economics, and organizational capability.
• Align HR strategy across acute care hospitals, ambulatory sites, specialty clinics, and corporate services. Fostering leadership accountability and alignment across all locations.
• Ensure consistent team member experience across the region, implementing policies, programs and organizational development initiatives that support a consistent experience and culture. 
• Oversee enterprise recruiting strategies for nurses, allied health professionals, and non-clinical staff.
• Address critical staffing challenges including nurse shortages, ancillary services, and agency labor reduction strategies.
• Develop retention strategies targeting burnout, turnover, and workforce engagement.
• Ensure succession planning for key clinical, operational, and executive roles.
• Design and govern competitive, equitable total rewards programs aligned with healthcare labor markets.
• Oversee physician compensation frameworks compliant with:
• Stark Law
• Anti-Kickback Statute
• Fair Market Value (FMV) requirements
• Ensure benefit offerings support recruitment, retention, and workforce well-being.
• Maintain pay equity and compliance with state and federal regulations.
• Lead labor relations strategy and oversee collective bargaining negotiations and contract administration where applicable.
• Partner with hospital leadership to resolve workforce disputes and mitigate labor risk.
• Ensure consistent labor practices across facilities while respecting local market conditions.
• Oversee succession planning and talent pipelines at system and hospital levels. 
• Oversee leadership development and change management programing including semi-annual all- leadership meetings.
• Oversee team member experience survey, reporting and improvement plans.
• Serve as a key member of the executive leadership team.
• Present on workforce related topics to the Board and relevant committees.
• Serves as administrative liaison to the Regional Human Resources Compensation Committee, including ongoing support for executive and physician total compensation.
• Work in conjunction with Academic Medical Partners to ensure scalable, integrated HR technology platforms across the enterprise.
• Ensure regional compliance with all workforce-related regulations, including Joint Commission standards, CMS Conditions of participation, Sate licensing and credentialing requirements, EEOC, FMLA, ADA, OSHA and labor laws.
• Partners with legal, compliance and risk to mitigate workforce related risk.

The Candidate
Experience and Professional Qualifications
Experience

• Minimum 15 years of progressive HR leadership experience, including senior level leadership (Director, Senior Director, Vice President) roles.
• Minimum 7-10 years in a healthcare setting, preferably within multi-hospital system, academic medical centers or large integrated delivery networks.
• Direct experience leading HR across multiple locations or regions.
• Demonstrated experience managing large, diverse workforces (clinical and non-clinical).
• Experience leading or supporting labor negotations, workforce restructuring or transformation and workforce strategy during periods of financial or operational pressure.
• Prior responsibility for multiple-site HR budgets and labor cost management
• Proven track record of building and leading high-performing HR leadership teams.
• Strong working knowledge of physician compensation frameworks, including Fair Market Value, Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute requirements.
• Knowledge of union and non-union labor environments, including collective bargaining processes
• Knowledge of enterprise HR operating models, shared services and HR Business Partner structures.
• Familiarity with HRIS platforms and workforce analytics,in complex healthcare environments. Experience implementing enterprise HR technology transformations preferred.
• Experience with mergers, acquistions and post-merger workforce integration in healthcare preferred.

Skills & Abilities

• Proven ability to lead and influence at the Board and executive level.
• Ability to communicate complex workforce issues to diverse stakeholders, including Boards, regulators, unions and community partners.
• Exceptional change management skills in highly regulated, mission-driven environments.
• Advanced systems-thinking capability and data-driven decision-making skills across complex clinical and operational environments.
• High emotional intelligence and ability to lead through complexity, stress and transformation.
• Strong executive coaching and leadership development skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead culture transformation in large healthcare organizations.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Healthcare Administration or related field. Master’s degree (MBA, MHA, MPA, or equivalent).
• SPHR or SHRM-SCP

Apply
Please visit https://jobs.candidate.kornferry.com/go/ext/IJ003I/242 to apply.