NetWorkWise Presents: Who's Who in HR

Justine Mitsock is currently the VP - Strategic Partnerships & Client Development at Lane Health where she leverages her expertise in developing and executing employee benefits programs as well as her unique global perspective from public and private companies across various industries.

Justine has spent 16+ years in various Human Resources leadership roles with responsibility for the strategy and operations of all employee benefit programs including retirement and health and wellness programs. Previously, Justine was the Head of Global Benefits for IHS Markit covering over 15K employees across almost 40 countries. There she introduced innovative wellness programs and generated significant savings by creating efficiencies. Prior to then, Justine was the Head of Total Rewards and HR Operations at CHANEL where she built compensation, benefits and HRIS functions. Justine also held various roles at Citigroup including SVP of Compensation and VP of International Benefits.

Justine earned a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Stockton University and has passed Exams 1 through 4 of the Society of Actuaries.

Sebastien Girard serves as Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Centura Health. Supporting a team of 21,000 outstanding caregivers, Seb is on a mission to serve, elevate and care for every community, every patient and every associate. Seb is an accomplished human resources leader with talents and practical skills in workforce planning, talent acquisition and management, HR technologies, and market disruption.

A native of Montreal, Canada, Seb joined Centura from Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he served as the Senior Vice President responsible for workforce engagement and workforce operations. He previously served as the Chief Workforce Officer at Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas, Texas. He spent nearly fifteen years with Randstad, a Dutch-based global human resources consulting firm, in executive and operations roles in both the United States and Canada.

Seb has a Master of Business Administration degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management. He completed Randstad’s prestigious international Senior Executive Program and the Human Capital Institute’s strategic workforce planning development program. He also serves as an advisory board member with three independent HR companies innovating in nurse staffing, professional nurse development, and health care workforce managed solutions.  

In addition to his deep professional experience, Seb passionately supports giving back to the community and has engaged in international humanitarian projects to recruit and attract some of the world’s best engineers to support those living in India with mobility obstacles.

Douglas Parks is Chief Administrative Officer at the boutique cruise brand, Azamara, where he leads the development and growth of the shared service teams including HR, Tax, Legal, IT, Risk and Supply Chain.  Prior to joining Azamara, Parks served as Chief Human Resources Officer of Healthnow, New York BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York.  There he was responsible for establishing and driving organizational development and driving human resource and talent strategies to optimize employee skills and value across the organization. Known for his leadership through high-risk change, Parks heads business transformation initiatives, performance improvement, culture, engagement, and capability and capacity building.   

Prior to joining BCBS-WNY, Parks served as EmblemHealth’s Vice president, Human Resources Strategy and Business Transformation, where he led a business transformation project resulting in a 20% reduction in administrative expense and a 28% improvement in core engagement scores. Before EmblemHealth, he was the Global HR Leader at Mercer Consulting, overseeing all people-related initiatives for Mercer’s consultants across more than 40 countries. Parks has also held several other HR leadership roles during the course of his career, including Senior HR Business Partner at Exelis (now part of Harris Corporation), Founder and President of the successful consulting business, Parks Management Consulting, and Managing Consultant at IBM Global Business Solutions.

Parks serves on the board of directors of Evanta, a Gartner Company Board of Governors, Buffalo Preparatory School, and the Buffalo Workforce Investment Board. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and the National Association for African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR).

Parks has a Master’s degree in learning and organizational change from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Purdue University.

Kenneth W. Meyer, SHRM-SCP, SPHR. Ken is currently Chief Human Resources Officer/VP, Human Resources for a Federally Qualified Health Center providing Primary Care, Behavioral Health, and Care Coordination to the underserved populations of New York City. He is an accomplished HR professional experienced in all areas of HR Management.

Ken has spent his career working in the healthcare field and started his career in HR in 1986. MS-Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University & Bernard M. Baruch College and BA-Economics from Herbert H. Lehman College, Member of the Beta Gamma Sigma and Golden Key National Honor Societies and holds SHRM-SCP and SPHR certifications. He is also the President-Elect for New York City SHRM, the longest-existing local chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management and has served on its Board of Directors as its Board Secretary and as Board Director. He was a recipient of the Lifetime Ambassador of Laughter Award from the Gotham Comedy Foundation and was a long-time volunteer with his local Little League, the North Riverdale Baseball League.

Raquel Crystal is Head of Human Resources & Operations at Sio Gene Therapies (f/k/a Axovant Gene Therapies). Ms. Crystal has 15 years of human resources experience across different industries. She previously served as Head of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition at Roivant Sciences, Inc. Prior to that, Ms. Crystal was the Head of Human Resources for CoreOne Technologies, LLC, a financial technology firm, covering Europe, Asia and North America.  She also held multiple roles in human resources at Morgan Stanley and Ambrose Employer Group, LLC.  She holds a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Lorna Hagen is a Human Capital executive with over 20 years of experience focused on building high-performance companies. Today, she is the Chief People Officer at Guild Education.

Prior to Guild, she was Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer and iHeartMedia where she successfully rebuilt their HR function and transitioned the company to fully remote during Covid. Lorna helped lead a successful IPO at OnDeck Capital and lead the organization to 16 “Best Companies to Work For” awards.

At Dow Jones, she executed a transformation of their HR technology, team, and work practices inclusive of global compensation, recruitment, learning and development, and benefits administration.

As a Latina executive, Lorna is passionate about taking D&I from talk to action and is committed to building equitable career opportunities for all employees.

Laura Birk is the Vice President of Human Resources for Barilla America, Inc. where she has been  for over 15 years. Laura is responsible for all the talent management and people processes  supporting the Americas business which includes Canada, U.S., Mexico and Brazil. She is a  Board Member for the company and has the pleasure to serve almost 1,000 employees across the  Americas.  

Laura’s recently been recognized by OnCon as a 2020 Top 50 Human Resources Professional and  Chicago Business Crain’s 2021 Notable Leaders in HR. She also leads a great team who has won several industry awards for diversity, wellness, employee benefits, and talent management and  development activities.

Laura serves on the Board for Missouri State University Advisory Board, and former Board Member  for the Tyler Clementi Foundation. She supports and volunteers at the Cradle Adoption agency,  Special Olympic, Walter & Connie Payton Foundation, Hispanic Alliance Career Enhancement  (H.A.C.E.), and several other Diversity and Inclusion organizations.  

She received her degree from Drury University and prior to her current role, Laura spent 10 years  at Morgan Stanley.

Shaun Snyder is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) with over seventeen years of benefits and human resources experience.  He has strong expertise in self-funded health plans and plan administration.  He currently holds the designation of ISCEBS Fellow and is the Past President of the Georgia Chapter for ISCEBS.  He also holds the SPHR designation.

At Blue Shield of California, Christopher drives the planning and execution of human capital plans, providing strong leadership skills leveraged to lead the HRBP team. He develops people strategies that connect and enable the successful execution of business strategies; execute leadership assessments, coaching talent management programs; consult and guide business leaders and their teams. He leads high performing teams through training & mentorship and executive coaching. He is enabling the culture through the organization to ensure there is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at all levels of the organization.

Christopher has his BFA from Webster University, He previously advised the Building Innovative Leaders program in partnership with Stanford University, Stanford Executive Education.

He designed the Growing Innovative Leaders program in partnership with National Taiwan University EMBA School. He is a Six Sigma Green Belt, is a certified NeuroLeadership Institute Facilitator and a frequent panelist and lecturer at Golden Gate University.