UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — After a national search, Christy Helms has been selected to serve as the senior director of Talent Management, according to Human Resources Vice President Lorraine Goffe. Helms began her new role on July 6.
Helms brings to the position nearly two-and-a-half decades of leadership experience in operations, organizational effectiveness and human resources, working in both the private sector and higher education.
Reporting jointly to Goffe and Patty Franklin, associate vice president for HR Operations, and serving on the HR senior leadership team, Helms will assume the responsibility for leading the development, implementation and administration of a University-wide, HR-based talent management strategy. As part of this role, she will supervise and lead the HR Talent Management Team.
“Christy has been a trusted leader in HR throughout its transformation,” Goffe said. “Her work was critical in developing and implementing our organizational model. Christy is a solutions-oriented leader with the ability to build highly effective teams. Her impressive career, both here at Penn State and in the private sector, will be a tremendous benefit to our organization. I look forward to welcoming Christy to HR’s leadership team, and I am confident her record of excellence will elevate the University’s Talent Management strategy to new heights.”
During her seven years at Penn State, Helms has taken on manager and strategist positions in the areas of learning and development, culminating into her role as director of HR Operations. In this role, Helms was integral in establishing the current HR Shared Services organization with primary responsibility for the oversight and development of four HR teams, including Data & Onboarding, HR Services, Records Management, and Part Time Recruiting & Sourcing. Some key accomplishments include building an employment documentation audit program for University compliance, establishing an electronic records management program, and implementing new processes and technology to support employee onboarding. Helms previously served as a talent management strategist, a manager of Leadership and Management Programs, and a learning strategist for individual and organizational development initiatives.
Before Penn State, Helms served as vice president for organizational effectiveness at Vitesse Learning, a developer of online training solutions, where she led change management efforts to improve operational efficiency as well as internal communication and training.
Helms’ career also includes business development consulting for CE Network, a provider of online real estate education courses and work with Thomson Prometric’s academic testing unit. While working for Thomson Prometric, she managed the company’s Latin America operations and held positions in strategic services and organizational effectiveness. She also gained early career experience as a coordinator for Middle East & North Africa Programs at Education Development Center in Washington, D.C., and served as a volunteer English teacher for WorldTeach in Playa del Coco, Costa Rica.
Helms earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and communications from the University of Pennsylvania.