WFPMA

NAHRMA UPDATE

Early in the year it was announced that Ms. Sue Meisinger, SPHR, president of the 2008-2010 NAHRMA Board, would retire from SHRM as its president and CEO in June 2008. Ms. Carolyn Gould, SPHR, GPHR, a current member of the SHRM Board of Directors and formerly a member on the NAHRMA and WFPMA boards has assumed the role of NAHRMA president for the reminder of the 2008-2010 term.

SHRM has responsibility for the management and administration of the WFPMA website, as well as the creation and production of the World Federation’s quarterly newsletter, WorldLink, since end of April, 2008.

ASSOCIATION UPDATES

1. MEXICO – AMEDIRH

International Human Resources Congress
Our 43 congress will take place on September 24th and 25 in Mexico City. 3,000 attendees from all around Mexico and some Latin American countries and Spain are expected to participate and attend conferences given by experts about advanced human resources topics. The event will also include an exhibition with more than 130 exhibit booths with HR service providers that support the function. During the opening session and in representation of President Felipe Calderon, Labor Secretary Javier Lozano Alarcón will chair the session together with 35 international and Mexican personalities from the private and public sector. To promote the congress, radio and TV programs invited AMEDIRH to talk about it as well as local newspapers. An aggressive, first-time marketing campaign was launched in July with excellent results, a total of 41,000 brochures were distributed.

Human Resource Associations Federation
As communicated in our last report, the following 12 human resource local associations in Mexico including AMEDIRH decided to form a Federation that would better represent the HR professionals of the country: Morelos, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Monterrey, Celaya, Coahuila, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Tijuana, Veracruz, Zacatecas and Mexico City.

Its Board will be headed by:

President Rogelio Salcedo (Monterrey, NL)
Vice-president I Gabriela Moreno (San Luis Potosí, SLP)
Vice-president II Gregory Camacho (Puebla, Pue)

Treasurer Max Pineda (Cuernavaca, Morelos)
Delegate José Antonio Ávila (Celaya, Guanajuato)
Delegate Laura Milán (Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes)
Delegate Jaime Guerra (Saltillo, Coahuila)
Secretary Pedro Borda
Witnesses Representing Tijuana, Veracruz and Chihuahua.

Its legal constitution will take place on September 24, during AMEDIRH’s International Human Resources Congress to be held in Mexico City.

The “23 Answers For Human Resources” Book
AMEDIHR published the book “123 Answers for Human Resources” with contributions from 123 human resource and area executives. The book answers questions in 12 different topics, all of them written for the Mexican human resource community. 60,000 copies will be distributed to the participants to our event, universities and affiliated companies as well as local and federal government agencies.

Diversity
Hard work and major efforts have been made to support activities around Diversity issues with affiliated companies. This year we conducted our second Diversity Forum and the Diversity Committee worked in two different sessions with participants interested in starting Diversity programs in their companies.

Membership Recruitment
From January to August 2008, 90 companies joined AMEDIRH. Keeping with our monthly welcome breakfast, participants start networking with colleagues from other companies. AMEDIRH leverages this opportunity to present all of its products and services. In addition, AMEDIRH has hired a new group of sales representatives to recruit new corporate organizations.

AMEDIRH and its Other Activities
AMEDIHR formed a new committee including a mix of participants from the Education Ministry and human resource directors representing important companies in Mexico to work on solutions to reduce the gap between alumni from colleges and universities and the competencies needed by companies.

AMEDIRH bought new office space and will soon be operating from its new headquarters. The building is a typical construction of the earliest 40’s in the heart of one of the most centrically zones of the city and is being adapted to house our operations.

Weekly radio programs are still used to promote vacancies and human resource topics.

From January to August a total of 2,925 active members attended our monthly training programs, committees and recruitment group sessions took place at AMEDIRH’s office.

Two newspapers with country-wide distribution in Mexico are still including a weekly space for Human Resource topics, written by AMEDIRH board and members.

The Institute for the Armed Forces in Mexico as well as Bringas Haghenbeck Foundation are being supported by AMEDIRH to help people to find new job opportunities; free training programs via Internet are being offered with the support of the Manpower Foundation.

2. U.S.A. – SHRM

SHRM New President and CEO Announcement
In early August, SHRM announced the selection of Laurence (Lon) G. O’Neil as President and Chief Executive Officer. O’Neil, who had been senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Kaiser Permanente, takes the helm on October 1, 2008.
SHRM’s Board of Directors unanimously chose O’Neil after a rigorous, six-month national search that included a pool of more than 400 potential candidates. He has held executive-level human resources and corporate positions at profit and not-for-profit organizations, both in the United States and overseas.
“Lon brings extensive HR, corporate and international experience to our organization,” said Janet N. Parker, SPHR, Chair of the SHRM Board of Directors and executive vice president for human resources at Regions Financial Corporation. “His impressive record of achievement and innovation will be an asset to SHRM’s strategic growth and ongoing service to our members. We welcome his leadership as the Society and the profession continue to expand their influence.”
“I am honored to be joining this esteemed global organization at an exciting time of growth for the human resources profession,” said O’Neil. “I’ve seen first hand how HR professionals can make the critical difference in an organization’s ability to compete and succeed. I am dedicated to strengthening the Society’s commitment to the profession and to the people who fulfill this essential mission around the world every day.”
From 2002 through 2007, O’Neil served as senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Kaiser Permanente, a $40 billion not-for-profit health organization with 158,000 employees. In this role, he developed and led a corporate-wide transformation of the human resources structure and services, creating business-focused HR centers of excellence. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, he was a managing partner at Heidrick & Struggles, one of the world’s leading providers of executive search and leadership consulting services.
O’Neil also held several positions with Bank of America during two different times in his career. As executive vice president and chief human resources officer of Global Corporate & Investment Banking, he led the HR team that supported lines of business in 42 countries. Additionally, he spent three years overseas directing the Bank’s HR functions throughout Asia, managed the human resources functions for the retail banking division comprised of 850 branch offices and more than

40,000 employees, and served as executive assistant to the chairman and CEO on all operating, organizational and policy issues.
O’Neil earned his bachelor’s degree from Villanova University and a master’s degree from the University of New Mexico. He has been active in the HR Policy Institute and the HR Policy Association. He has been a keynote speaker on HR issues as well as the organization and delivery of healthcare. In addition to his work in Asia, O’Neil spent the early years of his career in Tehran, Iran as director of social services for the Tehran American School.
He will assume the role of SHRM president and CEO on October 1, 2008. Visit the SHRM web site for more information at www.shrm.org.

SHRM Member Networks
SHRM is launching a two-year pilot project to form “SHRM Member Networks” outside the US, in response to international member requests for opportunities to meet, communicate and share HR experiences with their fellow SHRM members locally. These networks are less formal than the normal chapters that SHRM constitutes in the United States, with there being no financial relationship between the networks and SHRM. Each network will be led by a local SHRM member volunteer coordinator, must have a minimum of 25 SHRM active members to be formed, be required to comply with a license covering the relationship and use of SHRM’s intellectual property, and will commit to a minimum of four content events per year. Annual compliance reports will be required from each “SHRM Member Network” for renewal of their authority to operate. Under the pilot program, SHRM will begin these networks in India and then add additional locations on a selective basis, not to exceed 3-5 countries during the pilot period.

SHRM Events in Canada
In cooperation with provincial HR association members of the Canadian Council of HR Associations (CCHRA), SHRM will conduct the following events:
GPHR Preparation Course - 30 October – 1 November, 2008 - Vancouver, British Columbia – BC HRMA
GPHR Preparation Course - 3-5 November, 2008 - Toronto, Ontario – HRPA
Executive Education - 21 November, 2008 - Montreal, Quebec - ORHRI
SHRM Global Conference – 30 March – 1 April, 2009 – Toronto, Ontario