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