Nikki Lanier is the CEO of Harper Slade, an advisory firm focused on helping organizations advance organizational strategies based on the demographic workforce of the future. An experienced leader with over 25 years of career achievements that span Banking, Labor and Employment Law, Collective Bargaining, Human Resources, and State Government. A Private and Public Sector CHRO adept in a multitude of HR disciplines, Nikki is experienced in managing multi-site operations and employing comprehensive approaches that effectively align human capital priorities with the overall organizational strategy. Nikki is a collaborative leader who is skilled in building synergetic teams in multi-cultural and cross-functional environments. An Executive Management Committee veteran with site and functional leadership responsibilities with the Federal Reserve Bank, Philip Morris USA, Georgia Pacific, ADP, Charter Schools USA and the country’s largest community college system, Maricopa Community Colleges, Nikki is a dexterous division executive having led teams in a number of sectors including, manufacturing, government, higher education, consumer goods &, healthcare.
Nikki’s voice and perspective on the link between inequity and macroeconomics is a compelling one. Her musings on these topics have been featured in USA Today, Forbes Magazine, Essence Magazine, Ebony Media, Blavity, PBS and countless web and podcasts. Though based in Kentucky, she has spoken at convenings all over the world in furtherance of this work and hosted Harper Slade launch events in Washington DC, New York and Oakland California, Chicago, IL and South Florida.
Her advice and counsel have been sought after by governors, mayors, candidates for elected office, Federal Reserve leaders and college presidents.
Nikki earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law, a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Hampton University and holds a certification in Collective Bargaining from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She has served as an adjunct MBA professor for the University of Louisville College of Business where she also serves on its Board of Advisors.
