Top 28 HR Influencers to Follow in 2026
HR leaders are being asked to rethink how work gets done while still tackling hiring, development, engagement, and retention. These HR influencers share research, frameworks, and firsthand lessons that can give you new ways to approach the people decisions on your plate.
Top 28 HR Influencers
Below are the profiles of the top HR influencers, covering who they are and the impact they've made in this space.
Josh Bersin
Josh Bersin is an industry analyst, researcher, educator, and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company. He studies HR, workplace technology, talent, leadership, and the evolving future of work.
Bersin turns research on…
Josh Bersin is an industry analyst, researcher, educator, and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company. He studies HR, workplace technology, talent, leadership, and the evolving future of work.
Bersin turns research on skills, AI, workplace design, learning, and HR technology into practical guidance. His work helps HR leaders understand how new practices and technologies are changing the workplace.
Dave Ulrich
Dave Ulrich is a University of Michigan professor emeritus and RBL Group partner whose research, consulting, and extensive writing have helped shape modern thinking on HR and leadership.
Ulrich helped move HR…
Dave Ulrich is a University of Michigan professor emeritus and RBL Group partner whose research, consulting, and extensive writing have helped shape modern thinking on HR and leadership.
Ulrich helped move HR beyond administration toward business value and organizational capability. His work on HR roles, competencies, talent, leadership, and the outside-in approach gives practitioners practical ways to connect people decisions with customers, strategy, and results.
Stacia Garr
Stacia Garr co-founded RedThread Research after leading talent research at Bersin by Deloitte. Her work spans HR technology, people analytics, employee experience, leadership, and talent.
Garr researches employee experience, HR technology, DEI,…
Stacia Garr co-founded RedThread Research after leading talent research at Bersin by Deloitte. Her work spans HR technology, people analytics, employee experience, leadership, and talent.
Garr researches employee experience, HR technology, DEI, talent, and people analytics. She helps HR leaders cut through market noise and understand how technology, data, and management practices affect employees.
Ravin Jesuthasan
Ravin Jesuthasan is a Mercer senior partner and global transformation leader, author, and futurist. His research examines how AI, automation, and new talent models are redesigning work.
Jesuthasan studies how leaders can…
Ravin Jesuthasan is a Mercer senior partner and global transformation leader, author, and futurist. His research examines how AI, automation, and new talent models are redesigning work.
Jesuthasan studies how leaders can deconstruct jobs, redesign work, and combine human talent with AI and automation. Through Mercer, books, and World Economic Forum research, he gives HR leaders a framework for workforce transformation that goes beyond simply adding new technology.
Peter Cappelli
Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at Wharton and director of its Center for Human Resources, researching employment, talent, performance, and workplace policy.
Cappelli is known for evidence-based,…
Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at Wharton and director of its Center for Human Resources, researching employment, talent, performance, and workplace policy.
Cappelli is known for evidence-based, often contrarian analysis of hiring, retention, performance, and workforce policy. His research challenges assumptions in talent management and gives HR leaders a sharper way to test whether common people practices actually work.
David Green
David Green is an Insight222 senior vice president and managing partner, author, speaker, and host of Digital HR Leaders, with extensive experience in people analytics and data-driven HR.
Green has helped…
David Green is an Insight222 senior vice president and managing partner, author, speaker, and host of Digital HR Leaders, with extensive experience in people analytics and data-driven HR.
Green has helped make people analytics a strategic HR discipline through research, writing, consulting, and the Digital HR Leaders podcast. His work connects workforce data with business decisions, organizational change, AI, and the evolving capabilities HR teams need.
Madeline Laurano
Madeline Laurano founded Aptitude Research and serves as its chief analyst, drawing on years of HCM research to examine talent acquisition, employee experience, recruiting, and HR technology.
Laurano’s research follows the systems…
Madeline Laurano founded Aptitude Research and serves as its chief analyst, drawing on years of HCM research to examine talent acquisition, employee experience, recruiting, and HR technology.
Laurano’s research follows the systems and practices shaping hiring, from recruiting technology and AI to candidate experience and talent acquisition strategy. She helps HR and TA leaders evaluate technology against real workforce needs rather than product hype.
Nickle LaMoreaux
Nickle LaMoreaux is IBM’s senior vice president and chief human resources officer, leading its global people strategy and an HR organization supporting more than 300,000 employees worldwide.
LaMoreaux is driving an AI-enabled…
Nickle LaMoreaux is IBM’s senior vice president and chief human resources officer, leading its global people strategy and an HR organization supporting more than 300,000 employees worldwide.
LaMoreaux is driving an AI-enabled talent agenda at IBM, with emphasis on skills, learning, employee experience, and workforce reinvention. Her work offers HR leaders a large-enterprise view of how the people function can use technology while preparing employees for changing roles.
Donna Morris
Donna Morris is Walmart’s executive vice president and chief people officer, leading global people strategy for more than two million associates and serving on the company’s executive committee.
Morris leads workforce strategy…
Donna Morris is Walmart’s executive vice president and chief people officer, leading global people strategy for more than two million associates and serving on the company’s executive committee.
Morris leads workforce strategy at extraordinary scale, with priorities spanning skills-based development, career pathways, employee experience, wellbeing, and digital tools. Her work at Walmart shows how HR can connect frontline opportunity and talent systems with business transformation.
Francine Katsoudas
Francine Katsoudas is Cisco’s executive vice president and chief people, policy, and purpose officer, bringing the company’s people strategy, public policy, and social impact under one organization.
Katsoudas connects people leadership with…
Francine Katsoudas is Cisco’s executive vice president and chief people, policy, and purpose officer, bringing the company’s people strategy, public policy, and social impact under one organization.
Katsoudas connects people leadership with policy, purpose, culture, and business transformation at Cisco. Her work on leadership, learning, AI readiness, inclusion, and employee experience offers HR leaders a broad view of how the people function can shape organizational resilience.
Steve Boese
Steve Boese is president and co-founder of H3 HR Advisors, an HR technology advisory firm, and a longtime conference chair, podcast host, writer, and commentator on the changing world of work.
Boese…
Steve Boese is president and co-founder of H3 HR Advisors, an HR technology advisory firm, and a longtime conference chair, podcast host, writer, and commentator on the changing world of work.
Boese has spent years translating HR technology trends for practitioners through H3 HR Advisors, the HR Technology Conference, and the HR Happy Hour network. His commentary connects systems, AI, talent practices, and workplace change without losing sight of how HR teams actually operate.
Ben Eubanks
Ben Eubanks is chief research officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory, an author, speaker, and former HR practitioner whose research explores talent, technology, AI, and the employee experience.
Eubanks blends workforce research…
Ben Eubanks is chief research officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory, an author, speaker, and former HR practitioner whose research explores talent, technology, AI, and the employee experience.
Eubanks blends workforce research with an HR practitioner’s perspective. His books, including Artificial Intelligence for HR, examine how technology, talent scarcity, employee experience, and management practices are changing the people function and the decisions HR leaders make.
Marc Effron
Marc Effron is president of The Talent Strategy Group, where he advises organizations on talent strategy and performance. He is also an author and longtime talent management practitioner.
Effron advocates simpler, evidence-minded…
Marc Effron is president of The Talent Strategy Group, where he advises organizations on talent strategy and performance. He is also an author and longtime talent management practitioner.
Effron advocates simpler, evidence-minded talent practices focused on performance and business outcomes. Through consulting, research, and writing, he challenges HR teams to strip away unnecessary complexity in talent strategy, performance management, and leadership development.
Jennifer McClure
Jennifer McClure is CEO of Unbridled Talent and chief excitement officer of DisruptHR, combining experience as an HR executive, recruiter, coach, speaker, and future-of-work strategist.
McClure helps HR and business leaders navigate…
Jennifer McClure is CEO of Unbridled Talent and chief excitement officer of DisruptHR, combining experience as an HR executive, recruiter, coach, speaker, and future-of-work strategist.
McClure helps HR and business leaders navigate transformation, influence, leadership, and the future of work. Through Unbridled Talent, DisruptHR, keynotes, and coaching, she pushes practitioners to challenge outdated practices and become more strategic voices inside their organizations.
Hung Lee
Hung Lee is the editor and curator behind Recruiting Brainfood, a weekly newsletter and community covering recruiting, HR technology, AI, employer branding, and the changing world of work.
Lee shares tools,…
Hung Lee is the editor and curator behind Recruiting Brainfood, a weekly newsletter and community covering recruiting, HR technology, AI, employer branding, and the changing world of work.
Lee shares tools, research, debates, and expert insights from across the recruiting industry. His work helps talent acquisition and HR teams understand how AI, sourcing, recruiting operations, and workforce trends are changing hiring.
Katrina Kibben
Katrina Kibben founded Three Ears Media and works as a recruiting trainer, author, and keynote speaker, helping hiring teams improve job posts, recruiting processes, and candidate communication.
Kibben focuses on the language…
Katrina Kibben founded Three Ears Media and works as a recruiting trainer, author, and keynote speaker, helping hiring teams improve job posts, recruiting processes, and candidate communication.
Kibben focuses on the language and processes that shape hiring, especially job postings, recruiter training, candidate communication, and human-centered recruiting. Their work challenges teams to remove bias, clarify expectations, and make recruiting more useful for both candidates and employers.
Brian Elliott
Brian Elliott is CEO of Work Forward, a future-of-work advisor, and co-founder of Future Forum. His career spans startup leadership and senior executive roles at companies including Google and Slack.
Elliott studies…
Brian Elliott is CEO of Work Forward, a future-of-work advisor, and co-founder of Future Forum. His career spans startup leadership and senior executive roles at companies including Google and Slack.
Elliott studies how AI, flexibility, management practices, and organizational design are changing work. Through Work Forward, the Flex Index, advisory work, and How the Future Works, he gives leaders research-backed ways to redesign work around outcomes rather than inherited office norms.
Anthony Onesto
Anthony Onesto is the principal of AI & People Solutions at livingHR. As a former chief people officer and product leader, he focuses on AI, workforce strategy, and HR.
Onesto uses his…
Anthony Onesto is the principal of AI & People Solutions at livingHR. As a former chief people officer and product leader, he focuses on AI, workforce strategy, and HR.
Onesto uses his experience in HR leadership and technology to help organizations transform their workforces with AI. His work focuses on redesigning roles, workflows, skills, governance, and people strategy so HR can shape how organizations adopt AI rather than merely react to it.
Christopher Rainey
Christopher Rainey is co-founder and CEO of HR Leaders, a digital media platform focused on HR executives and experts, where he hosts conversations on work, leadership, talent, culture, and AI.
Rainey has…
Christopher Rainey is co-founder and CEO of HR Leaders, a digital media platform focused on HR executives and experts, where he hosts conversations on work, leadership, talent, culture, and AI.
Rainey has built HR Leaders around long-form conversations with executives and specialists on the issues reshaping people management. His interviews and content give practitioners access to ideas on AI, talent, culture, wellbeing, leadership, and the future of the HR function.
Meghan M. Biro
Meghan M. Biro is founder and CEO of TalentCulture, an HR and HR tech media community. A former high-tech recruiter, she also hosts the long-running #WorkTrends podcast on the world of work.
…
Meghan M. Biro is founder and CEO of TalentCulture, an HR and HR tech media community. A former high-tech recruiter, she also hosts the long-running #WorkTrends podcast on the world of work.
Biro has spent years convening conversations about talent, HR technology, leadership, recruiting, and workplace culture. Through TalentCulture and #WorkTrends, she connects practitioners with emerging ideas and voices shaping how organizations attract, engage, and support people.
Heather R. Younger
Heather R. Younger is founder and CEO of Employee Fanatix, an author, and a keynote speaker whose work centers on leadership, active listening, employee engagement, workplace culture, and change.
Younger turns research…
Heather R. Younger is founder and CEO of Employee Fanatix, an author, and a keynote speaker whose work centers on leadership, active listening, employee engagement, workplace culture, and change.
Younger turns research and workplace listening into practical leadership frameworks. Her books and keynotes explore active listening, caring leadership, trust, resilience, and employee engagement, giving HR and people leaders tools for building cultures where employees feel heard and valued.
Laurie Ruettimann
Laurie Ruettimann is a former HR leader turned author, speaker, podcaster, and advisor. Her career spans corporate HR and a body of work that challenges organizations to make work better.
Ruettimann draws…
Laurie Ruettimann is a former HR leader turned author, speaker, podcaster, and advisor. Her career spans corporate HR and a body of work that challenges organizations to make work better.
Ruettimann draws on her HR experience to discuss careers, leadership, well-being, and workplace culture. Through her books, talks, teaching, and consulting, she challenges outdated workplace practices and encourages people to take control of their careers.
Brigette Hyacinth
Brigette Hyacinth is an author, international keynote speaker, and leadership consultant whose work addresses leadership, employee experience, digital transformation, and the future of work.
Hyacinth writes and speaks about leadership, focusing on…
Brigette Hyacinth is an author, international keynote speaker, and leadership consultant whose work addresses leadership, employee experience, digital transformation, and the future of work.
Hyacinth writes and speaks about leadership, focusing on trust, empathy, employee experience, and new technology. Her practical advice and large professional audience make her a leading voice on people, workplace culture, and the future of work.
Tracie Sponenberg
Tracie Sponenberg is a fractional people leader, advisor, speaker, and former chief people officer with decades of HR experience across people strategy, HR technology, and organizational change.
Sponenberg uses the years inside…
Tracie Sponenberg is a fractional people leader, advisor, speaker, and former chief people officer with decades of HR experience across people strategy, HR technology, and organizational change.
Sponenberg uses the years inside frontline distribution and manufacturing businesses to connect people strategy with operational reality. Her work covers HR transformation, technology, performance, leadership, and employee experience, with a practical focus on the people who make and move things.
Tsedal Neeley
Tsedal Neeley is the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where she researches digital transformation, global work, culture, and organizational change.
Neeley’s research explains how leaders manage digital…
Tsedal Neeley is the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where she researches digital transformation, global work, culture, and organizational change.
Neeley’s research explains how leaders manage digital transformation, global teams, remote and hybrid work, cultural change, and AI. Her work gives HR and business leaders a rigorous lens on the organizational capabilities and leadership habits needed as technology changes how people collaborate.
Steve Browne
Steve Browne is chief people officer at LaRosa’s, an author and longtime HR practitioner known for a people-centered approach to HR, culture, employee connection, and the profession itself.
Browne argues for an…
Steve Browne is chief people officer at LaRosa’s, an author and longtime HR practitioner known for a people-centered approach to HR, culture, employee connection, and the profession itself.
Browne argues for an HR function embedded in the business rather than operating as a separate silo. His writing and speaking emphasize relationships, culture, community, and practical people leadership, offering HR professionals a distinctly human approach to the everyday work of the function.
Jamie Jackson
Jamie Jackson is an HR professional, creator, and co-host of HR Besties. Known online as the Chief Meme Officer, she built Humorous Resources as a candid community around the realities of…
Jamie Jackson is an HR professional, creator, and co-host of HR Besties. Known online as the Chief Meme Officer, she built Humorous Resources as a candid community around the realities of HR.
Jackson uses humor and firsthand HR experience to make workplace frustrations discussable. Through Humorous Resources and HR Besties, she mixes candid commentary with conversations about culture, management, benefits, careers, and the realities practitioners face behind the policies.
Ashley Herd
Ashley Herd is founder and CEO of Manager Method, an author, LinkedIn Learning instructor, and HR Besties co-host whose background spans employment law, corporate legal work, and HR leadership.
Herd translates employment-law…
Ashley Herd is founder and CEO of Manager Method, an author, LinkedIn Learning instructor, and HR Besties co-host whose background spans employment law, corporate legal work, and HR leadership.
Herd translates employment-law and HR experience into practical manager training. Through Manager Method, LinkedIn Learning, HR Besties, and her book The Manager Method, she teaches leaders how to handle feedback, performance, difficult conversations, and people decisions with clarity and empathy.
Selection Methodology
I selected the leaders on this list based on their relevance, demonstrated expertise and impact, professional credibility, and ongoing contributions to the field.
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I look for evidence such as leading meaningful initiatives or delivering notable results within their organizations, developing influential ideas or practices, publishing research or educational resources, speaking or teaching, and other contributions that demonstrate impact within their work or the broader field.
Further Reading
For more perspectives on the changing workplace, explore our roundup of future of work speakers to find voices that can help your team think ahead.
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