Meet Our CCHRA Members
Our breakfast meetings don't always give us time to meet everyone in the room, so I am re-starting the feature Meet our CCHRA members. I offered the following questions/topics to help the writer get started:
what your business/organization does; how long you have been in the HR/consulting field; what skill sets your industry needs; what do you see as a growth area in your industry; what business writer/blogger/book has influenced your work; do you have a piece of advice to give to someone entering the HR field; do you volunteer for a local organization that you feel is important to our community.
This month you will meet two new members, who joined earlier this fall, Christian Putnam and Frank Okrasinski.
Christian Putnam is a principal within Mercer's Health & Benefits practice and is
focused on finding unique and efficient solutions to address his clients HR and benefit challenges. Mercer is a full-service HR and benefits consulting firm that
offers a broad range of consulting and brokerage services to support its clients' business goals.
Christian has been serving the HR community for over 25 years in various capacities. His roles have included positions in benefit outsourcing operations, project management, implementation, product development, and quality assurance. Since moving to a consulting role, Christian's focus has been to create optimal solutions to meet client challenges, most recently focusing primarily on health and wellbeing benefits.
Due to the ongoing challenges facing organizations in providing employer sponsored health benefits; the consulting industry continues show strong demand for talent. Needs range from recent college graduates to provide analytical support through industry veterans to assist clients with major plan design, governance, and strategy decisions. He would advise someone who is entering Human Resources to be sure to get as much education supporting analytical skills to augment the traditional "soft skills" traditionally associated with HR.
Christian is a lifetime member of the Wellfleet and Orleans historical societies, a board member of Friends of South Shore Fisheries, and a member of the board of the Rhode Island Business Group on Health. He writes a monthly column for the Scituate Mariner newspaper focusing on the fishing industry and has been published by various publications including Employee Benefit News, National Fisherman and, Trains Magazine.
Christian's family ties to Cape Cod date back to the 1600s on Bound Brook Island in Wellfleet. He looks forward to becoming a contributing member of CCHRA and getting to know his fellow members well
Frank Okrasinski's background includes work in private industry and in mental health. With a Bachelor's degree in psychology and a Master's in Social Work he had a clinical practice before going into HR 25 years ago.
Prior to moving to Falmouth he was employed by Philips Healthcare. He writes: Philips is a global company headquartered in the Netherlands with business in consumer products, lighting and healthcare. Our North American Healthcare group is headquarter in Andover, MA. Specific, He held the position of HR business partner within the Lifeline medical alert business group supporting sales, IT, finance, R&D, HR, engineering, and manufacturing.
Philips Lifeline is a product that connects individuals to the support of emergency services as well as family members, friends in the community to provide peace of mind and reassurance that help is available when needed. We have serviced over 4 million people across the United States.
Our business drivers are related to 1) an aging population that are living longer but with increased chronic illness 2) rising healthcare cost 3) under resourced healthcare systems and 4) technological advancements in how patient care is deliver both at home and in healthcare setting.
Since a majority of our transactional HR work was centralized in a shared service model (benefits, compensation for example),most of our HR work down in the trenches related to partnering with our business constituents on issues related to strategy, managing talent and change. Working in this model, I found that there were four major human resource skill sets that were important to have so that we could remain competitive. They included:
- Change Management (to include merger and acquisitions)
- Employee engagement;
- Organizational development, and
- Talent development (includes mentoring and coaching)
As for those entering the field of Human Resources, I would recommend the above skills sets but most important is to understand the business, its' drivers and the financials.
In regards to writers, there are a few that stand out that I found interesting. They include Ron Heifetz's work on adaptive leadership and change and Robert Kegan's book on "Immunity to Change". Both writers address both macro and micro perspectives on change.
My experiences over the years in working with people in both clinical and business settings has been rewarding. Since moving this past year to Falmouth and no longer with Philips Healthcare, I now find myself in the market to provide those in need of an extra pair of hands in a HR consulting arrangement.
