Leah Warwick

Most organizations are still running 2026 companies on industrial-era architecture—rigid job structures, siloed functions, and HR operating models built for a world that no longer exists. But a profound shift is underway: skills, data, and AI are transforming HR from a support function into the enterprise’s central orchestrator of capability. This talk reframes the role of HR leaders, showing how the future of work demands not administrators of programs, but architects of how work actually flows across the business. Drawing on research from Gartner, Deloitte, and McKinsey, People Strategy Executive and Enterprise Systems Architect, Brad Hartman, explores why jobs are failing as the unit of analysis, why skills are becoming the new operating system, and how AI amplifies HR’s ability to design dynamic, adaptive organizations.

To bring this shift to life, Brad shares the inside story of how he transformed his most recent biotech People Team from a traditional "jobs"-based HR department into a dynamic, cross-functional "roles-based" team with an agile operating system. Through a case study of dynamic teaming, human capital intelligence, and a plug-and-play operating rhythm—including dashboards, quarterly rocks, shared norms, and agile project deployment—attendees will see how HR can become the integrator of people, systems, and work. This section illustrates how a modern People Team can operate as a true enterprise orchestrator: reallocating resources in real time, aligning with operational priorities, enabling digital workflows, and creating the transparency and coordination required for speed and scale. The result is a model any HR leader can adapt to accelerate outcomes and elevate their strategic impact.

This session is sponsored by The American Society of Administrative Professionals (ASAP).