Once again, I had the honor to co-host our annual CHRO of the Year Awards gala. This time around we celebrated in San Antonio at the 2025 HRO Today Forum. As always, we were wowed by the winners, and I wanted to share more about those leaders here. Read on!
CHRO of the Year, Non-Profit
Lori Knowles
Senior Vice President and CHRO
Memorial Hermann Health System
As Senior Vice President and CHRO of Memorial Hermann Health System, Lori Knowles oversees HR for the non-profit healthcare system’s 260 clinical sites and 34,000 associates. She has led a complete overhaul and upgrade of HR, including a new employee recognition program, “Celebrate” and the highly successful wellness program, “Well Together.” Her efforts have led to impressive results. Since 2021 employee turnover has decreased by 35% with first-year turnover dropping 43%.
CHRO of the Year, Small Market
Laura Muir
CHRO
Polaris Transportation Group
During Laura Muir’s tenure at Polaris Transportation, the organization grew three times in size. This growth was facilitated by innovative and effective improvements to their talent acquisition efforts and a very successful employee training program. The program has also led to low attrition and reduction in recruitment costs. The employee engagement initiatives include programs around mental and physical wellness, as well as volunteer opportunities.
CHRO of the Year, Mid-Market
Robin Corralez
Chief People Officer
PandaDoc
Robin Corralez joined PandaDoc more than five years ago and had to build a modern and strategic HR function from scratch, including centers of excellence and an HR partner team. During her tenure the company, she has not only been an impact player in HR, but she crossed heavily over to the strategic and operational side, helping to significantly reorganize their revenue and selling operations and tying them to performance management protocols. Following these efforts, multi-year sales grew by more than 30%.
CHRO of the Year, Large Market
Pradheepa Raman
Chief People Officer
GlobalFoundries
Pradheepa Raman leads HR for Global Foundries, a leading manufacturer of semi-conductors with more than 13,000 associates and a global footprint. At the heart of her approach is caring for employees, digitizing their experience, and managing them well. She has launched efforts in performance management, leadership diversity, and employee benefits including an innovative student debt repayment program that has helped with recruitment and retention.
CHRO of the Year, Sustainable Workforce
Daniel G. Chappell
EVP and CHRO
Seacoast Bank
Daniel Chappell joined Seacoast Bank a decade ago. During his 10 years, Seacoast has aggressively grown both organically and by acquisition. Chappell’s efforts in creating a cohesive and welcoming culture has been critical to their success. Focusing on diversity and engagement of both employees and the larger community, Seacoast has received numerous accolades and awards not only as a place of employment but for corporate responsibility as well. They have lower turnover and longer tenure on average than their peers in the retail banking sector.
CHRO of the Year, Lifetime Achievement
Terilyn Juarez Monroe
Chief People Officer
Guardant Health
As Guardant Health’s first chief people officer, Terilyn Juarez Monroe was charged with upgrading HR operations to be a strategic partner to the business. The HR team implemented new change management with 74% participation after the first year and built a talent branding group, an employee communications group and a workforce analytics team. Guardant has recently been awarded FDA approvals and is rapidly growing.
Until next time,
Debbie Bolla
SVP/Editorial Director
