Webster Bank has hired a chief of human resources who came up through General Electric, later led HR at CB Richard Ellis, and has been active in a group dedicated to transforming organizations through a holistic approach to “abundance, wellness and enlightenment.”
Jennifer Buchholz joins Webster Financial Corp., the parent of Webster Bank, as executive vice president and chief human resources officer. She worked at GE from 1996 to 2007, with ranking positions in Mexico and Japan, and at CB Richard Ellis, based in Los Angeles, from 2007 to 2010.
While Buchholz was at GE, the Fairfield-based conglomerate was known for ranking employees and firing some of the bottom 10 percent every year, under CEO Jack Welch, who retired in 2001. The company also had some of the more forward-thinking team-building techniques under Welch, and has expanded that under CEO Jeffrey Immelt.
Buchholz, of Stamford, earned a Black Belt in the company’s Six Sigma management methods, in which processes and manufacturing systems are designed to root out errors with fervor.
Buchholz, a University of Massachusetts graduate with an MBA from Pace University, is listed as an officer on the web site of the AWE Institute, a group that describes her as “a conduit between the spirit world and the corporate world,” and a certified yoga instructor and ordained inter-spiritual minister.
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3 Responses to A GE Veteran To Head HR at Webster Bank
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I like this piece on Jennifer Buchholz, the new EVP/CHRO of Webster Bank. Your inclusion of other than purely her corporate backgound gives the reader a sense of what she is all about – “officer on the web site of the AWE Institute, a group that describes her as ‘a conduit between the spirit world and the corporate world,’ a certified yoga instructor and ordained inter-spiritual minister.”
I have always held Webster in high regard, which has now only increased with their hiring of a senior executive that is “dedicated to transforming organizations through a holistic approach to abundance, wellness and enlightenment.” A nice breath of fresh air!
I look forward to meeting her and asking her about that group.
“While Buchholz was at GE, the Fairfield-based conglomerate was known for ranking employees and firing some of the bottom 10 percent every year, under CEO Jack Welch, who retired in 2001.”
I hope this ranking applies to the executive level and not just specifically targeting lower end employees. Webster has deadwood at both ends of the employee spectrum.