Q2 2026 Message from your MCHRA President

Cindy Peters, Mid-Cities HR President

In every organization we serve, the expectations of HR are changing. Last quarter’s focus on the compliance and legal landscape helped us strengthen our foundation, ensuring that our policies, processes, and decisions align with both the law and our values and building the trust that is rooted in effective HR leadership. This quarter, MCHRA will build on that foundation by turning our attention to Strategic HR Business Partnering: stepping into the role of trusted advisor, aligning people strategy with business priorities, and using our expertise to shape decisions that drive performance and sustainable growth.

Today, our stakeholders are looking to us not only to run effective people programs but to bring forward insight, challenge assumptions, and help shape the decisions that determine longterm success.

As a trusted advisor, aligning people strategies with business objectives, translating data into action, and ensuring that talent, culture, and capability are central to every major decision. It means understanding the business as deeply as we understand HR, and using that vantage point to drive performance, innovation, and an exceptional employee experience.

Over the next three months, our programs, communications, and events will explore the capabilities that elevate HR into this role: business acumen, data fluency, change leadership, stakeholder influence, and the courage to speak up as true partners in strategy.

I invite you to lean into this theme and ask yourself where your work is already having strategic impact, and where there is an opportunity to take a more active role in key decisions.

Together, we can continue to redefine HR’s role as a driver of organizational success through people strategy.