Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)

Planned Parenthood of Illinois•Chicago, IL

21h•Hybrid

About The Position

Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) is seeking a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) to serve as the organization's senior-most voice for the employee and staff experience. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer and sitting on the Executive Leadership Team, the CHRO takes full ownership of the integration of strategic HR work across every level of the organization. The CHRO operates as a true collaborator across employee relations, staff, and team functions, translating organizational strategy into concrete implementation across PPIL's health centers and administrative sites statewide. This is a hands-on, onsite role: the CHRO is expected to be visibly present across PPIL locations throughout Illinois, building trust and relationships at every site.

Requirements

Progressive HR leadership experience within a nonprofit healthcare organization, ideally within ambulatory care settings or institutions that include ambulatory operations.
Demonstrated experience advancing cultural competency and supporting a diverse employee population.
Experience navigating complex healthcare-adjacent environments, such as a foundation, public policy organization, or an organization with an advocacy/marketing function alongside healthcare operations.
Experience with multi-site ambulatory systems, such as federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) or similarly structured multi-site healthcare delivery structures.
Familiarity with the geography and healthcare landscape across Illinois, with the ability to build relationships statewide.
Familiarity or direct experience working within or alongside unionized environments; comfort operating in currently non-union settings with the understanding that organizing activity may arise.
Strong business acumen and a demonstrated ability to align HR strategy with organizational and financial priorities.
Proven track record building and shaping organizational culture and change management.
Solid working knowledge of employment/HR law and its application to a multi-site organization.
Demonstrated vision paired with the ability to execute — a leader who can set direction and also do the work of implementation.
Approachable, visible leadership style; comfortable being a hands-on presence with staff at all levels.
Strong employee relations skill set, with experience operating within a complex, multi-entity system rather than a single-site or single-entity organization.
Experience partnering directly with a CEO, Board, or executive committee on culture, labor relations, and workforce strategy.
Proven experience in leading and design of talent training and development initiatives.
Experience supporting accreditation processes such as AAAHC or Joint Commission surveys.

Nice To Haves

Ideally within ambulatory care settings or institutions that include ambulatory operations.
Such as a foundation, public policy organization, or an organization with an advocacy/marketing function alongside healthcare operations.
Such as federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) or similarly structured multi-site healthcare delivery structures.
Even where affiliates remain union-free today.
Such as AAAHC or Joint Commission surveys.

Responsibilities

Serve as a core member of the Executive Leadership Team, shaping organizational strategy alongside the CEO and fellow executives.
Own the integration of all strategic HR work into the broader organizational agenda, ensuring people strategy and business strategy move in lockstep.
Partner with the CEO and executive peers to translate organizational vision into HR strategy and implementation plans.
Act as a trusted advisor to leadership on all matters affecting the employee and staff experience.
Demonstrate strong business acumen and financial literacy to support executive decision-making.
Own full representation of employee and staff issues, ensuring every voice across the organization has a clear, credible channel to leadership.
Serve as a genuine collaborator in employee relations, working alongside managers and staff rather than directing from a distance.
Build and maintain a workplace culture where staff and teams feel supported, heard, and treated fairly at every site.
Lead and continuously improve the organization's approach to employee relations, coaching, and conflict resolution.
Administer regular staff/service satisfaction surveys across every site to measure the employee experience, track progress over time, and translate findings into concrete action plans.
Oversee staff communication channels and mechanisms, including Senior Leadership Team meetings; Monthly All-Staff Meetings; Annual All-Staff Meeting; All-Staff communication messaging.
Develop and execute an implementation strategy that brings HR priorities to life consistently across all PPIL locations statewide.
Maintain an onsite, visible presence across the state, with significant travel expected to health centers and administrative sites throughout the first year.
Build direct relationships with staff and leadership at each site to understand local needs and ensure statewide consistency.
Champion cultural competency across the organization, ensuring HR policies, programs, and practices reflect and support a diverse employee population.
Build inclusive people practices that resonate across PPIL's full range of staff, from clinical to administrative to advocacy teams.
Own accreditation and licensure readiness across all PPIL sites, ensuring HR-related standards including personnel files, credentialing, training records, and competency documentation meet or exceed requirements from relevant accrediting bodies (e.g., AAAHC, Joint Commission, NCQA).
Bring informed judgment to the organization's approach to labor relations, including familiarity with union environments, even where affiliates remain union-free today.
Proactively prepare the organization's employee relations practices and policies for the possibility of future organizing activity.
Ensure consistent, legally sound employee relations practices across all affiliate sites, unionized or not.
Understand the financial and operational levers of the organization and connects HR strategy directly to business outcomes.
Bring a CFO-caliber sense of ROI and prioritization to HR investment decisions.
Personally built or reshaped organizational culture, not just maintained it.
Uses concrete tools — surveys, listening sessions, manager toolkits — to measure and shift culture over time.
Applies working knowledge of federal, Illinois, and local employment law to day-to-day decisions and policy design.
Partners appropriately with legal counsel on higher-risk matters while retaining ownership of HR practice.
Sets a clear point of view on where HR needs to go and personally drives implementation rather than delegating it away.
Balances big-picture strategy with the discipline to see initiatives through to completion.
Builds trust quickly with staff across all levels and locations; is seen as accessible rather than distant.
Shows up in person — especially during the critical first year — rather than leading primarily from behind a desk.
Comfortable engaging directly in complex, sensitive employee relations matters, not solely overseeing from a distance.
Builds manager capability so employee relations issues are caught and addressed early and consistently.
Has operated within a system of multiple affiliated entities or sites rather than a single, self-contained organization.
Understands how to standardize practices across sites while respecting local variation and site-specific needs.