Kerry Norman
Chief People Officer | CHG Healthcare
What do you consider to be one of your most significant achievements and why?
Honestly, some of my most significant achievements won’t appear anywhere on a résumé. What drives me are moments like helping someone find the right role, growing a leader into someone their team trusts or being present for someone navigating something genuinely.
But if I had to point to something more tangible, I’m proud of the work we’ve done to strengthen our support for working mothers by expanding our fully paid parental leave policy and increasing flexibility. The result: Our retention of mothers who had babies while working at CHG jumped to 93%. Nationally, that number stands at just 43%. That’s one example of the kind of impact we’re making.
Could you share your approach or strategies toward mentorship, including any advice you have for aspiring executives?
My approach to mentorship starts with something I learned from my father: Leadership happens in the small moments. It’s not the formal advice or the big decisions; it’s how you show up every day for the people around you. I try to be a coach first. I ask a lot of questions. I want to understand what someone is trying to accomplish, where they feel stuck, and what they might not be seeing about themselves.
I also make a point to seek out the quiet people in the room. They’re often not the loudest self-advocates, but they tend to have the most thoughtful perspectives. For anyone working toward a leadership role, my advice would be to stay curious and stay humble. I come back to a phrase often: abundance of curiosity, economy of ego. Be open to growth wherever it comes from, because it rarely shows up where you expect. Some of my most formative experiences came from taking on work that wasn’t in my lane. Uncomfortable? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. Growth tends to hide in the detours.
What challenges have you overcome to get here today?
One of the pivotal moments in my career didn’t look like an opportunity at first. After COVID, I was asked to move from a talent management role to operations. It wasn’t the path I’d planned for myself. I remember feeling surprised and, honestly, a little unsettled. What I didn’t understand yet was how much that move would shape me. It expanded my view of how the business actually works: How we serve customers, how decisions ripple through an organization and how deeply operational change affects people.
When I stepped into my current role as chief people officer, I could see the connection between people strategy and business strategy in a way I couldn’t have before. I was a better leader for having taken that detour. The lesson I carry from that experience: Don’t let discomfort be your signal to stop. Often, it’s the signal that something important is happening for your personal development.
