HR Pulse - Fall 2008 - (Page 15)

[HR LEADER] Irma Pye hat goes around, comes around. That idiom holds true for Irma Pye, who received a great deal of training and peer support through ASHHRA when she was new to health care HR more than 20 years ago. Now a senior-level executive, she’s the one providing professional development opportunities for others. Pye, senior vice president and CHRO of Valley Baptist Health System in Harlingen, Texas, credits ASHHRA with helping propel her on her chosen career path. The system includes two hospitals with a combined total of 800 beds and more than a half dozen other health care entities, with a total of about 3,200 employees. She celebrated her 25th anniversary with Valley Baptist last year. “I joined the Texas chapter soon after I entered the profession,” she explains, “but at that time the organization was very small, and I was in a small town without access to any professional development. Joining ASHHRA was a great way to get more education and meet other HR practitioners. “When I needed help, I knew that there were other people who had tackled the same issues,” says Pye. “I could call my ASHHRA friends, my peers. Those connections really helped my career and provided the resources I needed to do my job and to grow. Now I volunteer in different ways with ASHHRA so I can be there for others who need resources.” Lending a Hand To say that Pye regularly volunteers her time to help others in the profession is an understatement. She is a former ASHHRA board member and has served on various committees over the years. She currently is chair of the host committee for this year’s annual conference in Austin. She says she is particularly excited about plans for the conference Career Expo. “I believe HR is a great ﬁeld for young people to go into, and we want to attract business students and get them into health care HR jobs,” according to Pye. “The expo will help them learn about what we do and get them interested in this ﬁeld.” Her advice for those new to the profession? “Come to the conference! You’ll gain more insights and information from your peers than you can possibly imagine. Until you meet your peers and understand how they can serve as an ongoing resource, you won’t fully appreciate the true value of the community we share,” she says. Pye’s conference planning colleagues praise her efforts to make the Austin conference a success. “Irma has been very supportive in her roles, especially this year in the selection process of the speakers,” says Gary Pastore, HR director at Sun Health Corporation and the chair of 2008 annual conference planning committee. “We enlisted Irma to walk us through the Lean Process to choose the speakers. She managed to engage the conference committee in the ﬁnal RFP selections, a task that formerly took a day and a half but this year took just a half-day. “Irma exempliﬁes the HR leader by her ability to engage participation of the group, foster engagement in the process and lead the process in a way that honors everyone’s opinion, idea and/or passion,” according to Pastore. Her volunteer efforts extend beyond ASHHRA. Pye is also a past board member and president of Texas Society for Healthcare Human Resource Administration and Education (TSHHRAE) and a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. In addition, she is a board member and past chair of the American Cancer Society Harlingen Chapter. Falling in Love with HR Pye joined Valley Baptist as an employment manager after working as an ofﬁce manager for a shipbuilding company, where she did “a little of everything,” including handling payroll and personnel functions. She quickly realized that she had found her calling. W 15 HR Pulse Fall 2008 “When I needed help…I could call my ASHHRA friends, my peers. Now I volunteer in different ways with ASHHRA so I can be there for others who need resources.”

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Pulse - Fall 2008

HR Pulse - Fall 2008 Contents Pulse Points Executive Director’s Letter President’s Message HR Leader Profile: Irma Pye Sammy’s House: Making a Difference in Austin Working Mother Magazine’s 100 Best Companies Increasing CEO Engagement Pastoral Care Retaining Scarce, Critical Talent The Engagement Dilemma Diversity Considerations…More than AAP & EEO Quashing the Workplace Bullying Bug How to Become a Strong Human Resources Partner Citizen Lobbyists Descend Upon Capitol Hill Conference Highlights Schedule at a Glance Sponsors Exhibitors Advertisers’ Index

HR Pulse - Fall 2008

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