IBM’s Nickle LaMoreaux Named 2024 HR Executive of the Year

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. and BOSTON, Oct. 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HR Executive™, the premier global media company covering strategic issues in HR, today announced that Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM's Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, has been named its 2024 HR Executive of the Year.

In addition, HR Executive has selected Darrell Ford, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at UPS, as this year’s HR Honor Roll inductee.

To determine the winners, the judges based their selections on the following criteria: the nominee’s ability to handle significant problems or obstacles in the HR field; the nominee’s role and/or success in establishing the HR function as an integral part of their organization; the nominee’s management skills as demonstrated within the HR function; and their overall contributions to the HR profession.

“The HR Executive of the Year program celebrates the leaders revolutionizing their organization’s people function, spearheading meaningful change with support from the latest technologies and exemplifying HR’s strategic value to their business,” said Elizabeth Clarke, Executive Editor of HR Executive. “Nickle and Darrell represent all that and so much more.”

The 2024 HR Executive of the Year, Nickle LaMoreaux, has spent more than 20 years at IBM, where she got her start as an intern and fell in love with the company. In her four years as CHRO, LaMoreaux has not been afraid to embrace risk to reap big rewards. Her HR team has become “Client Zero” for IBM’s AI and automation tools, transforming into a truly digital-first function. Employee satisfaction at IBM is at an all-time high, as HR prioritizes the employee experience. The team is transforming every aspect of policy and process to increase productivity, remove mundane tasks, and help move IBMers to higher-value work. Additionally, she is credited with pioneering the evolution of IBM’s HR operating model, transitioning most upline managers to digital-first HR support. This allowed the HR team to reskill, upskill, and add more value to the business as they focused on workforce planning, talent management and client engagements.

This year’s HR Honor Roll inductee, Darrell Ford, joined UPS during a particularly challenging moment in the company’s history. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, labor negotiations and the emergence of generative AI, Ford sought to identify and enact changes that would strengthen HR’s alignment to business results, investing in training and other initiatives to ensure his team was equipped to adapt as needed.

LaMoreaux and Ford will be recognized in a special ceremony on Thursday, October 24, at Boston University Questrom School of Business Human Resources Policy Institute’s Fall 2024 meeting. HRPI, a long-time partner of HR Executive in the HR Executive of the Year and HR Honor Roll awards program, harnesses the power of people to inspire, impact and innovate modern HR policy and practice.

Charles Tharp, Professor of the Practice, Management & Organizations, and Co-Director, HRPI, shared, “Having worked with HR Executive in support of this program for the last several years, we are delighted to honor this year’s HR Executive of the Year and HR Honor Roll inductee with them. Nickle and Darrell have made tremendous contributions to the HR function both within their organizations and the profession as a whole.”

To learn more about LaMoreaux’s and Ford’s careers and accomplishments, visit hrexecutive.com.

About HR Executive™
Established in 1987, HR Executive™ is the premier global media company covering strategic issues in HR. Part of the Arc network, HR Executive provides more than 175,000 subscribers with news, content and analysis of global HR trends. HR Executive is where HR professionals go when they need to know, providing in-depth coverage on all facets of human resource management, including recruiting, talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, learning and development, employment law, talent management, the latest technologies and more. Visit hrexecutive.com.

About Boston University Questrom School of Business

Founded in 1913, the Boston University Questrom School of Business is a global top-tier academic research business school. Led by Allen Questrom Professor and Dean Susan Fournier, Questrom develops business leaders who create value for the world. Questrom redefines transformational business programs, strengthens partnerships with the business community, advances the impact of research on business, and manages the school as a high-performing enterprise committed to excellence with a service mindset. Comprising a renowned full-time faculty of 165 researchers, teaching faculty, and accomplished practitioners, Questrom generates insights to address today’s business challenges and prepares students with the tools they need to succeed from Day 1 in their professional lives. Questrom’s portfolio of academic programs is robust and includes a Top 20 undergraduate program of over 2,200 students; distinctive MBA offerings including 900 students in a full- and part-time MBA, the affordable Online MBA and specialty MBAs in social impact, health, and digital technology; several thriving specialized masters programs in areas including business analytics, mathematical finance, and management studies; and a rigorous PhD program. More than 50,000 Questrom alumni form a powerful global network of leaders driving value creation that changes the world.

QUESTROM MEANS BUSINESS. For more information, visit bu.edu/questrom.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/32163b91-388b-4ccb-b207-96462b7580d8

Nickle LaMoreaux, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, IBM

Named 2024 HR Executive of the Year