Lindauer Assists Fenway Health in the Recruitment of Chief People Officer
February 18, 2022 – Lindauer has helped to place Shari Stier as the new chief people officer for Fenway Health, a Boston-based healthcare, research and advocacy organization that serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. She will assume the role on April 4. Faith Eutsay led the assignment for the search firm.
Ms. Stier brings over 20 years of experience, including a track record of building successful staffing recruitment, management and retention strategies grounded in organizational values, transparent communication, and collaborative decision-making. Most recently, she served as senior associate vice president and chief human resources officer at Emerson College. In that role, she oversaw a staff of 16 human resource professionals and led the college’s design efforts to reduce on-campus staff density, manage a remote and hybrid workforce, and stand up a COVID-19 testing center and tracing efforts in response to pandemic-driven changes in the workplace.
“Throughout her career, Shari has demonstrated creativity, innovation, leadership and strategic thinking to build and support workplace cultures in large, complex institutions that enable people throughout the organization to thrive,” said Fenway Health chief executive officer Ellen LaPointe. “Shari will play a key role in helping Fenway Health cultivate and sustain a strong team and work environment that will enable us to reach and serve everyone who stands to benefit from the care, services, research, education, and advocacy we provide.”
Priorities for Fenway Health’s chief people officer include creating and sustaining the conditions for a flourishing work community at Fenway Health in which everyone is engaged in cultivating a strong, positive culture that prioritizes the delivery of high-quality care and services, said the community health center. The chief people officer is expected to ensure that organizational policies and initiatives incorporate intersectional racial equity principles to ensure the highest level of employee engagement, learning, accountability, and resilience throughout the organization.
A Seasoned Leader
“My passion is creating systems that make it possible for people to do their best work and be their best selves,” said Ms. Stier. “Fenway Health’s commitment to racial equity and social justice is foundational to creating a workplace culture in which people of all races, cultures, and sexual and gender identities can see themselves represented and welcomed throughout the institution.”
Ms. Stier is a seasoned strategic leader experienced in building workplace cultures that honor, respect, and promote shared success. At Emerson College, she introduced a new process through which human resource policies were substantially revised with input from the entire community, resulting in greater clarity, compliance and alignment with Emerson College’s mission and values. She created a process to enhance employee engagement by organizing monthly meetings of staff from throughout the organization to discuss current news and papers related to workplace issues ranging from compensation, work hours, vacation time and supervisor-supervisee relationships. She is currently leading an effort to ensure that HR systems and processes are more responsive and trauma informed.
Prior to Emerson College, Ms. Stier worked at two global non-profits specializing in sexual and reproductive rights and health, primary health care and educational development: At Pact, she served as vice president of global human resources, and at Pathfinder International, she was director of human resources.
Founded in 1971 by Northeastern University, Fenway Health is a comprehensive community health center, providing a wide continuum of healthcare services. The non-profit is New England’s leading primary care health center for the lesbian and gay community, and in addition provides healthcare to residents of Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.
Serving Non-Profits
Lindauer serves higher and secondary education, hospitals, and academic research centers, think tanks, research facilities and foundations, as well as advocacy, public service, social justice, and other mission-driven non-profits. It has led searches for the Boston YMCA, Center for Applied Special Technology, Healthy Minds Innovations/Center for Healthy Minds, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Cockrell School of Engineering, among others.
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Deb Taft leads Lindauer with over 25 years of executive and senior-level experience across the non-profit sector, from education to healthcare/academic medicine to the youth service and voluntary sectors. Her expertise includes governance, strategic planning, fundraising, program and staff management, strategic marketing, analytics, and constituent engagement, as well as talent recruitment, retention, and development.
Ms. Eutsay has 20 years of development experience to help her meet client needs. A self-described “generalist,” she brings both frontline fundraising and management expertise to the Lindauer team. She has placed chief development officers, or the equivalent position, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Babson College, Western Connecticut Health Network Foundation, Society for Science & the Public, and Whitinsville Christian School.
Last year, Lindauer recruited Mark Brimhall-Vargas as executive vice president of racial equity and social justice for Fenway Health. Ms. Eutsay also led that assignment. “Mark has the perfect combination of professional background, knowledge and lived experience to shape this inaugural role into a force for change at Fenway Health,” said Ms. LaPointe. “Throughout his career, Mark has woven vision, strategy, thoughtfulness, and humility together to drive meaningful and measurable change in large, complex institutions. Mark will play a key role in helping Fenway Health navigate a transformative process that will enable us to reach and serve everyone who stands to benefit from the care, services, research, education, and advocacy we provide.” Dr. Brimhall-Vargas brings 25 years of experience in change management, organizational development, and training and programming around systemic inequities, most recently at Brandeis University, where he was chief diversity officer and vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Related: Lindauer Seeks VP Development for University of Washington
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
