A transformative HR and HCM leader and strategist for top technology companies, Pat Wadors currently serves as Chief People Officer (CPO) of UKG, a global powerhouse of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions that is known for its award-winning culture. In this role, she oversees the critical HR functions that bring UKG’s employee experience to life, including talent acquisition and development, compensation and benefits, employee listening and people analytics, HR technology, employee communications, and physical security. Her mission is to create a positive and engaging experience for UKG’s 14,000+ workforce at every touchpoint—from a candidate’s first contact to building a robust alumni network of brand and culture ambassadors.
Before joining UKG, Pat was CPO at Procore Technologies, leading the company through expansive growth, and Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) at ServiceNow, overseeing global employee resources and talent and helping the company scale. She has held multiple HR leadership positions in the tech world, with tenures at LinkedIn, Plantronics, Twitter, Align Technologies, and Yahoo! Pat is a current board member of Accolade, Inc. and a past board member of UKG, Zenefits, El Camino Hospital, and Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara County, where she also served as Chair.
A thought leader in HR, Pat has had numerous articles published in The Harvard Business Review. She is a multiple recipient of the National Diversity Council’s Top 50 Women in Technology award and the creator of the DIB (Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging) framework, which champions employee belonging as the key driver of employee satisfaction and retention. An evocative and inspiring speaker, Pat has spoken to audiences around the world, including LinkedIn, The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Association of Talent Development, the Boston Consulting Group, and Talent Connect.
A self-identified “Mom to 3 Millennials” and “introvert in a leadership role” (who tirelessly works to embrace the quieter voices), Pat’s empathy, authenticity, insights, and talent for storytelling make her a standout speaker. Pat’s talks both challenge the mind and touch the heart while providing actionable expertise on every aspect of HR, leadership, or looking ahead to the future of work.
Keynote Programs:
Creating A Culture Of Belonging That Drives Bottom-Line Results
As SVP of Global Talent at LinkedIn, Pat Wadors transformed the way that organizations view DE&I. “What’s missing from the discussion is the notion of belonging,” she wrote in a breakthrough article in the Harvard Business Review. “No matter what their background, their skin color, or gender, employees wanted what I wanted: to belong.” At LinkedIn, she coined the term, “DIBs,” the combination of Diversity and Inclusion with Belonging. The framework not only struck a cultural chord but notably increased both employee engagement and LinkedIn’s recruitment and retention numbers—even attracting top-tier candidates from companies such as Apple and Google that had previously eluded them. All because LinkedIn had become known for its culture of belonging. In this inspiring talk, Pat shares research, data, and her talent for storytelling to show how any size organization in any industry can build a culture of belonging where employees feel free to bring their authentic selves to work. From creating “belonging micro-moments” of true human connection for individuals to taking it to scale across a large organization, Pat gives you the tools to make a culture of belonging your organization’s superpower.
Elevating The Employee Experience Journey
Companies spend millions on customer experience journey mapping but rarely pay the same attention to their employee experience. According to Pat Wadors, if you really want to create a healthy, successful company that can scale, focus on your employees. In this enlightening talk, Pat shares the five key elements to the employee experience journey and how organizations of any size in any industry can elevate and enhance them to boost engagement, retain, recruit, and impact the bottom line. Noting that managers can have more impact on our mental health than our primary care doctors, she also discusses the phenomenon of the “bruised employee” and the critical role that leaders and managers play in the employee experience. Combining data with storytelling and analytics with real-world examples, Pat guides audiences through the key points of the employee journey, detailing challenges and highlighting key opportunities, every step of the way.
Leading Through Change: Becoming An Agile, Relevant, And Authentic Leader
Describe Pat Wadors as a “transformational leader” and she’ll quickly tell you that she’d rather be known as an agile, relevant, and authentic one. Instead of focusing on “change management,” she says, we should instead be focused on bringing more agility to how we lead. Agile leaders are realistic, inclusive, pragmatic, calm, and go with the flow of reality. They have a growth mindset and understand the power of “yet,”—as in, “We haven’t done that yet.” To become more agile, we must become more humble, more courageous, more inclusive, and nimble enough to not only adapt and change, but to grow and care. Pat walks audiences through what it means to be truly agile, relevant, and authentic, including creating your own “Scorecard” as your guide. Warning that those who are not agile cap their own growth, and organizations who rely on old standards face atrophy, Pat provides real tools and a path forward that audiences can leverage to both empower their own professional growth and to spark change in their team and organization.
What's Your Scorecard? The Most Important Tool You Can Develop For Both Career And Life
What do you stand for? What are your guiding principles, your values, your motivators? Who do you want to be, regardless of what everyone else is doing around you? When you look at yourself each day in the mirror, how do you determine if you’re living up to who you really want to be? According to Pat Wadors, check your “Scorecard,” the most important tool you can leverage to become the leader of your personal and professional life. In this game-changing talk, Pat shows you how to develop your own Scorecard by determining what matters most to you and the actions necessary to get there. She also shares her own personal journey of achieving her own potential as a leader, and how finally being herself inspired others to also bring their own authentic selves and true potential to work. Bringing decades of real-world corporate HR expertise to an inspirational and empowering experience worthy of Brené Brown or Mel Robbins, Pat Wadors’ “Scorecard” will forever change the way you think about achieving your best self and the life you really want.
