SPOTLIGHT: Striving for HR Functional Excellence, With Vail Resorts CHRO Lynanne Kunkel

The mandate for and position of HR have evolved since the
COVID-19 pandemic began, and these trends are only accelerated by
continually shifting employee expectations. Lynanne Kunkel,
chief HR officer (CHRO) of Vail Resorts and member
of Gartner’s CHRO Global Leadership Board, shares her vision
for how the HR function can strive for excellence while facing
ongoing pressures in this new environment. She urges HR
functions to develop capabilities like change leadership and
human-centered experience design. She also discusses how HR can
engage with other business leaders to become more integrated and
aligned to strategic business outcomes.


Lynanne Kunkel is the CHRO for Vail Resorts. Prior to
joining Vail Resorts in 2017, Lynanne served in various executive
positions for Whirlpool, most recently as senior vice president
of global HR. Throughout her career, she has led all aspects of
HR to deliver enhanced business performance in areas that include
business HR, talent acquisition, talent management, leadership
development, organizational effectiveness, diversity and
inclusion, and talent analytics.


Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice.
He is responsible for building and leading research teams within
the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his
current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research
teams focused on banking and financial services strategy,
producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy,
channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf
College; a master’s degree in international politics from
Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College
of Wales, Aberystwyth); and a master’s degree and a doctorate in
political science from Brown University.