Top 26 Fractional CHROs to Hire in 2026
The best fractional CHROs bring senior HR leadership without the full-time cost. If your organization needs strategic people leadership but isn't ready for a permanent hire, this list is for you. I've pulled together profiles of top fractional CHROs so you can quickly find the right fit—someone who can step in, drive real impact, and grow with your team.
Top 26 Fractional CHROs
Below are the profiles of the top fractional CHROs, covering who they are and the impact they’ve made in this space.
Elles Skony
Elles Skony founded Elles & Co. after nearly two decades in people leadership, bringing experience across high-growth startups, scaling organizations, and mission-driven brands.
As a fractional people leader and strategic advisor, Skony…
Elles Skony founded Elles & Co. after nearly two decades in people leadership, bringing experience across high-growth startups, scaling organizations, and mission-driven brands.
As a fractional people leader and strategic advisor, Skony helps founders and executive teams turn values into behaviors, communication rhythms, and systems. She also founded Fractional People People, a community supporting independent HR leaders.
Tracie Sponenberg
Tracie Sponenberg spent 25 years leading HR in businesses that make and move things, including nine years as Chief People Officer of wholesale distributor The Granite Group.
She now advises CEOs of…
Tracie Sponenberg spent 25 years leading HR in businesses that make and move things, including nine years as Chief People Officer of wholesale distributor The Granite Group.
She now advises CEOs of midsized manufacturers and distributors as a fractional and advisory CPO. Her work centers on frontline culture, retention, people strategy, and building stronger HR functions for operational businesses.
Erica Ellison
Erica Ellison is the founder of CoreSight HR Solutions, where her work centers on fractional executive HR leadership and helping organizations address their people priorities.
Her fractional CHRO work gives organizations access…
Erica Ellison is the founder of CoreSight HR Solutions, where her work centers on fractional executive HR leadership and helping organizations address their people priorities.
Her fractional CHRO work gives organizations access to senior HR guidance without a full-time executive hire, connecting people decisions and HR operations with broader organizational needs.
Shalini Phillips
Shalini Phillips brings 15-plus years as a CHRO and senior HR leader, including People leadership at Ezra, Wattpad, Achievers, SCM Insurance, McLean & Company, and OTN Health.
As a fractional CHRO and…
Shalini Phillips brings 15-plus years as a CHRO and senior HR leader, including People leadership at Ezra, Wattpad, Achievers, SCM Insurance, McLean & Company, and OTN Health.
As a fractional CHRO and AI-capability architect, Phillips redesigns HR functions around AI capability rather than simply adding headcount or tools. Her work connects people strategy, AI governance, workflows, organizational design, and sustainable technology adoption.
Sherika Ekpo
Sherika Ekpo leads Shaw Ekpo Enterprises and brings two decades of human capital experience, including leadership work with Google, GE, JPMorgan Chase, USDS, and Homeland Security.
As a fractional CHRO and HR…
Sherika Ekpo leads Shaw Ekpo Enterprises and brings two decades of human capital experience, including leadership work with Google, GE, JPMorgan Chase, USDS, and Homeland Security.
As a fractional CHRO and HR strategist, Ekpo advises organizations on workplace culture, talent management, people operations, and executive-level HR decisions. She has also served as interim Chief People Officer of Anaplan.
Chris Payne
Chris Payne leads PayneHR after a 13-year operating tenure that included six years holding CHRO and COO responsibilities while helping scale an organization from 30 to 570 employees.
Payne serves founder-led companies…
Chris Payne leads PayneHR after a 13-year operating tenure that included six years holding CHRO and COO responsibilities while helping scale an organization from 30 to 570 employees.
Payne serves founder-led companies as a fractional CHRO and COO, working across people strategy, operational compliance, HR infrastructure, and AI governance. His approach emphasizes systems that remain useful without depending on the advisor who built them.
Sangeeta Lund
Sangeeta Lund brings 28 years of senior HR experience to fractional and interim leadership, including global talent acquisition and regional HR leadership at Frost & Sullivan.
Her work spans performance, retention, EVP…
Sangeeta Lund brings 28 years of senior HR experience to fractional and interim leadership, including global talent acquisition and regional HR leadership at Frost & Sullivan.
Her work spans performance, retention, EVP design, talent acquisition, post-merger integration, and people strategy for scaling businesses. Lund also advises SME boards and supports founders facing consequential people decisions.
Alex Seiler
Alex Seiler has more than 15 years of global People and HR experience, including work with Citi, NBCUniversal, WeWork, GHJ, and Control Risks and service as a full-time CPO.
Seiler now works…
Alex Seiler has more than 15 years of global People and HR experience, including work with Citi, NBCUniversal, WeWork, GHJ, and Control Risks and service as a full-time CPO.
Seiler now works with fractional clients while advising HR technology startups. His experience centers on creating and transforming people systems that support equitable, innovative, and inclusive workplace cultures.
Vanessa Phung
Vanessa Phung founded and leads People Haven, a fractional HR firm serving small and midsize companies, after building HR experience across startups, large companies, and multiple industries.
Phung works on culture, compensation,…
Vanessa Phung founded and leads People Haven, a fractional HR firm serving small and midsize companies, after building HR experience across startups, large companies, and multiple industries.
Phung works on culture, compensation, engagement, organizational development, and people roadmaps. Her experience includes helping scale a startup from 40 to 1,800 employees and participating in M&A transactions from both buyer and seller perspectives.
Thorsten Eger, PhD
Thorsten Eger has spent more than two decades in senior HR and People & Culture roles across companies including Deutsche Telekom, Roche, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson.
Through Thorsten Eger Consulting, he…
Thorsten Eger has spent more than two decades in senior HR and People & Culture roles across companies including Deutsche Telekom, Roche, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson.
Through Thorsten Eger Consulting, he takes interim and fractional CHRO/CPO mandates spanning transformation, culture, talent, and organizational development. He also teaches international HRM and HR leadership at FHNW.
Sumit Singla
Sumit Singla leads HR+, a fractional CHRO and HR advisory practice, after more than 20 years in HR leadership with organizations including Vedanta, RPG, GE, Trident, and Air India.
Singla works with…
Sumit Singla leads HR+, a fractional CHRO and HR advisory practice, after more than 20 years in HR leadership with organizations including Vedanta, RPG, GE, Trident, and Air India.
Singla works with founder-led businesses on hiring, retention, organization design, compensation, career architecture, management capability, and compliance. His approach treats fractional leadership as ownership of people outcomes rather than project-based advice.
Nicole Nielsen
Nicole Nielsen is a fractional HR leader and strategist at 5FT View Consulting, working with growth-stage companies that need experienced people leadership without a full-time executive.
Nielsen helps growing companies bring structure…
Nicole Nielsen is a fractional HR leader and strategist at 5FT View Consulting, working with growth-stage companies that need experienced people leadership without a full-time executive.
Nielsen helps growing companies bring structure and executive judgment to HR as people issues become more complex. Her work includes people strategy, leadership development, executive coaching, and practical HR infrastructure for scaling organizations.
Tara Egan
Tara Egan brings more than 20 years of HR and talent-strategy experience to fractional CHRO work, with leadership experience spanning financial services, pharma, and other industries.
Egan connects people strategy with business…
Tara Egan brings more than 20 years of HR and talent-strategy experience to fractional CHRO work, with leadership experience spanning financial services, pharma, and other industries.
Egan connects people strategy with business performance and has led HR through major M&A integrations. Her work encompasses compensation, benefits, culture, talent strategy, and helping leadership teams align people decisions with organizational growth.
April Ozcan
April Ozcan founded Oz HR Consulting after a 25-year HR career spanning emerging companies through complex global enterprises, with substantial experience in New York and Connecticut.
Ozcan provides executive-level HR leadership, workplace…
April Ozcan founded Oz HR Consulting after a 25-year HR career spanning emerging companies through complex global enterprises, with substantial experience in New York and Connecticut.
Ozcan provides executive-level HR leadership, workplace investigations, people-risk diligence, and leadership advisory. Her work helps executives and boards navigate organizational change, employee relations risk, growth, and increasingly complex workforce decisions.
Victoria Yang
Victoria Yang is a People Ops leader with more than 20 years of experience building HR programs and processes, including leadership roles at Looker and Bonusly and work across varied industries.
Yang…
Victoria Yang is a People Ops leader with more than 20 years of experience building HR programs and processes, including leadership roles at Looker and Bonusly and work across varied industries.
Yang provides fractional and interim People leadership for startups, combining strategic advice with implementation. Her work spans compensation, performance management, HR systems, organizational design, coaching, and building equitable people programs that can scale.
Lindsay Dagiantis
Lindsay Dagiantis founded blueprintHR after more than 15 years leading people operations in growing and complex organizations, bringing an operator’s perspective to fractional HR.
Dagiantis helps growing companies build HR foundations that…
Lindsay Dagiantis founded blueprintHR after more than 15 years leading people operations in growing and complex organizations, bringing an operator’s perspective to fractional HR.
Dagiantis helps growing companies build HR foundations that can support their next stage. Her work spans job architecture, compensation, hiring, onboarding, multi-state compliance, performance management, and manager development.
Tim Toterhi
Tim Toterhi brings roughly 25 years of HR experience to Plotline Leadership, including previous CHRO roles and senior work across talent, organizational development, and HR strategy.
Toterhi combines fractional CHRO work with…
Tim Toterhi brings roughly 25 years of HR experience to Plotline Leadership, including previous CHRO roles and senior work across talent, organizational development, and HR strategy.
Toterhi combines fractional CHRO work with talent consulting and executive coaching. His writing and advisory work emphasizes practical talent strategy, simplified performance management, strategic HR planning, leadership development, and stronger employee lifecycle decisions.
Harrsha Poojary
Harrsha Poojary founded CircleRight and brings more than 19 years of hands-on HR experience to work with founders, family businesses, SMEs, and companies building teams in India.
Poojary combines strategic advice with…
Harrsha Poojary founded CircleRight and brings more than 19 years of hands-on HR experience to work with founders, family businesses, SMEs, and companies building teams in India.
Poojary combines strategic advice with implementation, helping organizations build HR systems for scale, governance, compliance, and leadership accountability. Her work gives smaller businesses access to experienced HR strategy without a large consulting structure.
Kim Minnick
Kim Minnick leads Code Traveller HR and works fractionally with organizations that need experienced People Operations support across HR systems, performance, and other workforce priorities.
Minnick’s recent fractional work includes interim HR…
Kim Minnick leads Code Traveller HR and works fractionally with organizations that need experienced People Operations support across HR systems, performance, and other workforce priorities.
Minnick’s recent fractional work includes interim HR coverage, performance diagnostics, job leveling, and HRIS implementation. Her approach combines hands-on people operations with practical systems and feedback practices that help organizations manage employees more consistently.
Liz Corey
Liz Corey leads On The GROW Leadership, combining executive HR experience with fractional CHRO support for organizations that need senior people strategy and leadership guidance.
Her work connects HR strategy with leadership…
Liz Corey leads On The GROW Leadership, combining executive HR experience with fractional CHRO support for organizations that need senior people strategy and leadership guidance.
Her work connects HR strategy with leadership and organizational growth, giving businesses flexible access to executive-level people expertise while strengthening the practices and leadership capabilities that support a growing workforce.
Caitlyn Beattie
Caitlyn Beattie founded Origami HR after more than 15 years in HR, learning, leadership, and culture, including director-level talent and change roles and experience leading HR teams.
Beattie helps organizations strengthen people…
Caitlyn Beattie founded Origami HR after more than 15 years in HR, learning, leadership, and culture, including director-level talent and change roles and experience leading HR teams.
Beattie helps organizations strengthen people foundations, leadership, and culture through growth and change. Her work spans talent strategy, performance systems, onboarding, learning, leadership development, coaching, and organizational change.
Taneesha Peoples
Taneesha Peoples founded P3 Talent Advisory after 13 years in HR spanning operations through the Chief People Officer seat in large, complex, and regulated organizations.
Peoples advises founders and leadership teams on…
Taneesha Peoples founded P3 Talent Advisory after 13 years in HR spanning operations through the Chief People Officer seat in large, complex, and regulated organizations.
Peoples advises founders and leadership teams on retention, succession, leadership, and scaling People functions. Her work treats workforce decisions as business decisions, with particular attention to knowledge loss, management capability, organizational structure, and preventable turnover.
Kim Blue
Kim Blue is Chief People Officer of COPILOT Provider Support Services, principal of K Blue Consulting, and an executive coach whose career includes HR leadership at Zoom, Microsoft, and ESPN.
Blue combines…
Kim Blue is Chief People Officer of COPILOT Provider Support Services, principal of K Blue Consulting, and an executive coach whose career includes HR leadership at Zoom, Microsoft, and ESPN.
Blue combines C-suite people leadership with executive coaching and organizational strategy. Her work spans change management, organizational development, people strategy, leadership, and advising executives on aligning workforce decisions with business priorities.
Paul Falcone
Paul Falcone is a former Nickelodeon CHRO, HarperCollins Leadership and American Management Association author, SHRM columnist, and principal of a workplace leadership consultancy.
Falcone’s consulting spans HR advisory, management training, executive coaching,…
Paul Falcone is a former Nickelodeon CHRO, HarperCollins Leadership and American Management Association author, SHRM columnist, and principal of a workplace leadership consultancy.
Falcone’s consulting spans HR advisory, management training, executive coaching, keynotes, and leadership retreats. His work draws on senior HR experience across entertainment, healthcare, biotech, financial services, and international environments.
David Wexler
David Wexler is an experienced CHRO, consultant, and board member whose work through Wexler Human Capital Consulting centers on senior-level people and talent strategy.
Wexler brings an executive perspective to human capital…
David Wexler is an experienced CHRO, consultant, and board member whose work through Wexler Human Capital Consulting centers on senior-level people and talent strategy.
Wexler brings an executive perspective to human capital decisions, advising organizations and leadership teams on the people side of business strategy. His mix of CHRO, consulting, and board experience supports organizations navigating senior talent and workforce priorities.
Mandy Kutschied
Mandy Kutschied founded Cup of Culture Consulting after more than 15 years in HR and People leadership across mission-driven startups, professional services, SaaS, and nonprofits.
Kutschied provides fractional CHRO and HR strategy…
Mandy Kutschied founded Cup of Culture Consulting after more than 15 years in HR and People leadership across mission-driven startups, professional services, SaaS, and nonprofits.
Kutschied provides fractional CHRO and HR strategy support with an emphasis on intentional culture, organizational design, leadership development, DEI, and change. Her work focuses on translating organizational values into practical people systems and sustainable workplace practices.
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.
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