Nominee Name: Pablo Brizi
Nominee Title: Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer & Corporate Affairs
Nominee Organization/Company: Hilton Grand Vacations
Nominee Company’s Website: www.hiltongrandvacations.com
Operation regions:
- North America (Canada and US)
- Asia Pacific (APAC)
- Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA)
- Latin America
Annual global revenues (in $US): More than $1 billion
Full-time employees globally: 10,000 – 24,999
Primary industry: Hospitality
Describe the key initiative(s) led by the nominee: Pablo Brizi is Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer & Corporate Affairs for Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV), an industry-leading global timeshare company. In this role, he is responsible for leading teams of highly experienced professionals, while ensuring a positive and supportive workplace environment. Pablo’s oversight includes Corporate Communications, Corporate Affairs, Total Rewards, HR Operations, Talent Acquisition, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI&B), Community Relations, Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). He has successfully grown the HGV family to over 16,000 team members.
In August 2021, HGV acquired Diamond Resorts, making it one of the largest vacation ownership companies in the world with over 150 resorts. To ensure a smooth transition for team members, Pablo employed his industrious team of professionals to develop and execute a plan to transition and merge both companies in just six months while continuing their day-to-day duties and supporting team members through the transition. With this massive undertaking, the team completed an enormous range of projects that touched every aspect of the business, including, but not limited to: implementing Paid Time Off, holidays, sick time, health benefits coverage, vacation discount programs, payroll, a new compensation framework, and IT and system integrations, such as email, applicant tracking system, HCM and workforce planning. Under Pablo’s leadership, this team implemented a plan that allowed the company to continue to operate as normal amid the challenges of combining over 10,000 team members into one, unified company in the middle of a pandemic. This also included adding over 25 global resorts to HGV’s portfolio and ensuring these international team members were properly set up on day one.
As he worked through the challenge of a pandemic, ongoing labor shortage, and combining two companies into one, Pablo’s unwavering focus on creating a company culture that emphasizes respect, growth, empowerment, inspiration, and belonging has allowed HGV to overcome these hurdles and successfully cultivate a dedicated global workforce. HGV’s people-first value proposition is inclusive of programs and services designed to ensure team members feel engaged, appreciated and rewarded for their contributions. For instance, a dedicated mobile app was launched internally for team members to share their stories, celebrate their achievements, and have easy, on-the-go access to tools and resources needed to do their jobs better and to stay connected with the company. These type of initiatives have opened the door for team members to inspire creativity and deliver memorable vacation experiences for owners and guests in highly desirable destinations around the world.
Pablo’s commitment to creating a positive workplace led HGV to be recognized and honored with several awards and certifications over the past year including:
- Newsweek’s “Most Loved Workplaces” list for 2021 and 2022, ranking in the top three for hospitality companies and the top-rated company for being the “Most Value Driven”
- Becoming a Great Place to Work certified company, earning its 2022 certification
- Stevie Awards with a Gold Award for “Company of the Year” in Hospitality and Leisure (both in 2021 and 2022), as well as a Silver Award for “Achievement in Growth”
- Orlando Business Journal’s 2021 and 2022 Best Places to Work
- Named a top company by LinkedIn on its “2022 Top Companies: Industry Edition” list for Travel & Hospitality
- Ranked among the top 100 companies on Dave Thomas Foundation’s “Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces” list in 2020, 2021 and 2022
- 17 ARDA (American Resort Development Association) Awards, the timeshare industry’s award program. Three of those awards fell under Pablo’s teams, one of which included the industry’s most coveted award – ACE Employee of the Year award
Pablo believes that a company’s success is measured by its impact. In his position, he has effectively blended HGV’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEI&B) and HR initiatives into a key component of the company’s business, designed to bring to life the company’s “Putting People First” mission. This has been key to HGV’s continued success in talent recruitment, since younger generations increasingly looking to work for mission-driven organizations.
Pablo is committed to HGV’s mission of “Putting People First” through enterprise DEI&B strategies, including 12 active Team Member Resource Groups (TMRGs), which are an integral component of HGV’s culture of inclusion representing a broad range of perspectives. The TMRGs include: Asia-Pacific Islander, Black Employee Action Team (B.E.A.T.), Diverse Abilities, The Givers Group (PaCT), Hispanic/Latino, Military, Mosaic, Pride, Sustainability, Wisdom, Women and Young Professionals.
Furthermore, a Spirit of Service has also always been at the heart of HGV. In celebration of the company’s 30th anniversary in 2022, Pablo led the HGV #30for30 campaign, which expands on the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility program, HGV Serves, and included executing 30 volunteer and philanthropic initiatives during 2022. HGV ended its #30for30 campaign with the local Habitat for Humanity Orlando & Osceola chapter helping build a new home for a local family, marking the company’s 30th and final volunteer event of the year. Given HGV’s headquarters are located in Orlando, it was very special to end the campaign in the company’s home city.
Pablo ensures HGV’s commitment in giving back to its local communities by supporting organizations based on four philanthropic areas including disaster relief, homelessness, veterans, and youth development. In support of the four pillars, the company’s national partnerships include: Habitat for Humanity International, the United Service Organizations (USO), Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the American Red Cross. In addition, HGV supports sustainability efforts through its partnership with Clean the World.
Pablo maintains a people-first outlook by ensuring programs and services are designed for team members to feel engaged, appreciated and rewarded for their contributions. He has shown commitment to these values by launching day-1 eligibility benefits, HGV is currently one of the only vacation ownership companies to offer benefits on day-1 including medical, dental, vision, optional supplemental insurance, PTO, sick paid-leave and 401K. Under his leadership, the company also began offering various flex-work options including: 100% in office, a few select days in office or 100% remote. These options also include six weeks of remote work each year, four weeks remote during the summer and two weeks during the winter. Additionally, HGV has an exceptional adoption assistance benefit program, leading it to be ranked among the top 100 companies on Dave Thomas Foundation’s “Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces” list for the last three years.
Along with advantageous and flexible work options, Pablo has ensured the company invests in multiple perks and benefits directly associated with HGV’s company culture including: a best-in-class team member travel program (Go Hilton), a discount program that provides discounts with various merchants and companies, 24/7 HR assistance, Retirement Savings Plans, health savings accounts, health reimbursement accounts, flexible spending accounts, paid time off benefits, EAP – employee assistance program, employee stock ownership plan, company paid short term disability benefits, tuition reimbursement, learning & development opportunities and more.
75% of HGV team members are enrolled in at least one of the health and well-being programs. In 2023, there will be several new additional wellness benefits for team members, including increasing the bereavement benefit from three to five days for immediate family members and will also include pets.
Describe the impact of the nominee’s initiative(s):
- HGV has been able to successfully cultivate a dedicated and engaged global workforce of over 16,000 team members. This number has nearly tripled due to the recovery from the pandemic and the Diamond Resorts acquisition in August 2021
- 75% of HGV team members are enrolled in at least one of the health and well-being programs
- Under Pablo’s leadership, HGV’s Team Member Resource Groups (TMRGs) have grown from 6 to 12 groups, further expanding opportunities for all team members to flourish
- HGV team members are offered over 1,000 training and development courses that focus on numerous core competencies, including diversity & inclusion, culture, leadership, business acumen, skills training, and personal and professional growth. In 2021, HGV team members completed roughly 100,000 courses, resulting in over 70,000 total training hours
- HGV has donated more than 22,000 pounds of discarded soap, which has been recycled into nearly 120,000 bars of soap, with its partnership with Clean the World
- Exclusively communicating with HGV club members in a digital format, which moving from printed to fully digital translates to:
○ Less Paper Waste: Preventing nearly 700,000 pounds from ending up in landfills from Jan. 1, 2020 – Dec. 31, 2021
○ More Trees Saved: Approximately 5,200 from Jan. 1, 2020 – Dec. 31, 2021
○ Fewer Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Approximately 2.4 million pounds of Co2 from Jan. 1, 2020 – Dec. 31, 2021
- HGV donated the following to its national partners, below:
○ A donation of $100,000 was made to Habitat for Humanity International to help support home builds and repair projects for families across the country.
○ A donation of $100,000 was made to the United Service Organizations (USO) in support of service members in local communities across the country.
○ In March 2022, matched public donations dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000 to the American Red Cross to assist with domestic disaster relief efforts.
○ A donation of $150,000 to Boys & Girls Clubs of America to help create positive impacts in the lives of young people throughout communities within HGV’s footprint.
- HGV made a $100,000 donation to Annika Sörenstam’s ANNIKA Foundation to help expand opportunities for female golfers at the junior, collegiate and professional levels.
- HGV Waikoloa Village resorts raised an excess of $15,000 for a local charity.
- More than 100 of Hawaii-based team members supported The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program generating a value of $6,000 to give back to the local community.
- More than 2,800 HGV team members in Orlando teamed up with Christel House to participate in A Walk Around the Christel House World, in support of students around the globe and the company made a $10,000 donation to Christel House.
- More than 100 of Las Vegas-based team members partnered with the USO to host a Care Package Event and created over 3,500 care packages to send to our military service members who are on active duty.
- In local communities across the U.S., HGV has partnered with Habitat for Humanity on local home builds where HGV team members volunteer to help assist with the new home builds for families in need.
- HGV’s Tokyo corporate office carried out a donation of emergency food to a local food bank.
- To commemorate the opening of The Beach Resort Sesoko, a Hilton Club, HGV donated to the Motobu Town Children and Child-rearing Yuimaru Fund Ordinance and continue to support this fund by donating one dollar for each new owner obtained at the resort.
- In Hawaii, HGV partnered with the non-profit organization Kupu, to contribute to two major “Mālama” events with the goal of empowering youth.
Please rate the extent to which the nominee drove this initiative on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very little and 10 being completely: 10
Also, please describe how the nominee drove the initiative: Pablo stands out in his role as CHRO due to his innate ability to connect with team members and create an environment where people want to work while being fulfilled by the job they perform. In the past two years, Pablo had to help HGV overcome a myriad of challenges the hospitality industry has faced, all while acquiring another company at the same time.
While bringing two companies together has always presented both opportunities and challenges, Pablo understood the key to a successful merger lies in people. A large part of the successful integration of both companies was all in part due to Pablo and his team creating an almost 100-page Leader Playbook that detailed how leaders can successfully move forward as one company, one team. This document showcased the magnitude of what Pablo’s vision entailed, and what his team was doing behind the scenes to make a merger so seamless starting from the team member level.
Working through this 100-page document, he had his leaders view their roles and how they could support the company’s strategic priorities by viewing it as a pyramid, starting with team members and culture at the base and each one building upon the other. Team members and culture as the main support system and functioning as one, thus building to financial performance which helps to increase revenue and finally, focusing on innovation and integration as a whole to complete the pyramid. Having this visualization helped Pablo’s leaders understand the way to success, operating together as a pyramid, building on each other to achieve success.
Effective and servant leadership is absolutely essential to ensuring an entire organization is aligned and inspired to move forward together. Pablo’s guiding principle is to be a servant leader and he’s had the good fortune throughout his career to learn firsthand from tremendous servant leaders whose guidance has impacted him immensely. The philosophy of this leadership style is a “serve-first mindset,” which unlocks potential and drives a strong a sense of purpose. Servant leaders enrich the lives of others, build better organizations and lead by example by paying it forward.
Pablo has instilled this servant leadership style to his own direct leaders and through his guidance, his team’s consistent focus on creating a company culture that is based on transparency and one that emphasizes respect, growth, pride, and fueled by a passion for integrity has allowed HGV to successfully grow a dedicated and engaged global workforce of over 16,000 team members.
Since starting his role at HGV in 2020, apart from cultivating a company culture that is rooted in respect, diversity, inclusion and belonging, Pablo also understands that recognition, no matter how small, inspires big things. Pablo has ensured it’s one of HGV’s key priorities to appreciate and recognize team member milestones throughout their journey with the company. From day one, HGV offers flexible recognition programs that support leaders with helping create meaningful and impactful moments for their teams. These programs reward and highlight milestones, recognize exceptional service standards of team members and promote company values. Pablo and HGV are committed to creating rewarding travel experiences and a fulfilling work-life balance for team members through the company’s Team Member and Family Travel Program and generous paid time off to relax, recharge and reconnect.
Pablo’s role in combining CSR efforts with HR operations have been key to HGV’s continued success given that younger generations increasingly look to get involved with and work for mission-driven companies. He works to invest in programs that not only support HGV team members – both personally and professionally – but to also continue to strengthen and further HGV’s efforts to support the sustainable development of local communities and environments. This is accomplished through numerous volunteer events and activities, charitable contributions, implementation of energy-efficient programs and more to help protect the world in which HGV’s owners, guests and team members adventure.
Pablo’s values are directly aligned with HGV’s core values – Hospitality, Integrity, Leadership, Teamwork, Ownership and Now (HILTON). It’s clear that all of his actions and commitments to the company and team members come from a place of care and admiration for his role and responsibility. Everyone at HGV understands Pablo’s true and genuine motivations and intentions, as he makes them explicitly clear in his actions.
Rate the individual reputational or professional risk the nominee took for this initiative on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very little and 10 being completely: 6
Also, please describe that risk: In August 2021, HGV acquired Diamond Resorts, making it one of the largest vacation ownership companies in the world with over 150 resorts. To ensure a smooth transition for team members, Pablo employed his industrious team of professionals to develop and execute a plan to transition and merge both companies in just six months while continuing their day-to-day duties and supporting team members through the transition. With this massive undertaking, the team completed an enormous range of projects that touched every aspect of the business, including, but not limited to: implementing Paid Time Off, holidays, sick time, health benefits coverage, vacation discount programs, payroll, a new compensation framework, and IT and system integrations, including: email, applicant tracking system, HCM and workforce planning.
Under Pablo’s leadership, this team implemented a plan that allowed the company to continue to operate as normal amid the challenges of combining over 10,000 team members into one, unified company in the middle of a pandemic. This also included adding over 25 global resorts to HGV’s portfolio and ensuring these international team members were properly set up on day one.
One of the biggest challenges in the integration was continuing to run a business without a system to support the new legacy team members, as the company was being redesigned for the future state. This meant the team had a strict deadline to implement everything by January 1, 2022. The team had to develop creative problem-solving to achieve their goals without a framework in place, while also building the new systems the company would use going forward. They merged as many system-driven practices as possible, while designing and running several interim processes.
The second major challenge the team faced was managing cultural onboarding for new team members, while re-educating current team members on new or changing practices and procedures. The team had to be very thoughtful on how, when, and what they communicated —and what needed to be recommunicated. They supported the business during this reimagining, while also completing their regular duties and adapting to constant operational shifts on their own team. Additionally, the team revisited current benefits, such as PTO, medical, and dental, and travel discounts. They evaluated processes and perks from both companies, building a new company culture and procedure rather than just incorporating everything into the company’s existing structure.
The team under Pablo’s direction was successfully able to merge the best of both worlds and designed the company for the future.
How long has the CHRO been with their current company? 1 – 3 years
How long has the nominee held a position as a CHRO, both with their current organization and all previous organizations? 7 – 9 years