Carrie Vance
Cameron Park,USA
Summary
Dynamic HR leader with a strong focus on aligning workforce strategies with organizational goals in unionized healthcare environments. Expert in navigating complex employee relations, administering collective bargaining agreements, and implementing targeted initiatives that have significantly improved employee engagement and retention metrics. Recognized for a consultative approach that drives operational effectiveness.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior HR Business Partner
DIGNITY HEALTH
03.2023 - Current
- Strategic HR partner supporting leadership and executive teams across Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, and Mercy General Hospital, representing approximately 700 combined hospital beds within complex unionized healthcare environments.
- Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to executives, leaders, and employees on complex employee and labor relations matters, collective bargaining agreements, California employment law, organizational policy, and workforce strategy.
- Lead resolution of complex employee and labor relations matters through workplace investigations, grievance resolution, mediation, departmental interventions, work-environment assessments, and investigative interviews.
- Advise leaders on performance management, corrective action, employee engagement, retention, absenteeism, compensation, career development, and organizational effectiveness.
- Coach and develop leaders on HR policy, employment law, investigations, documentation, performance management, and collective bargaining agreement administration.
- Partnered with departmental leadership to analyze employee engagement survey results, identified organizational trends, and developed targeted action plans to strengthen engagement and enhance workplace culture.
- Led workforce transitions and organizational change initiatives, providing communication, education, and retention strategies to support impacted employees.
- Lead and contribute to system-wide HR initiatives focused on process improvement, consistency, operational efficiency, and employee experience.
- Assessed workforce and organizational needs using HR data and business insights to recommend strategies addressing turnover, retention, performance, and leadership development.
HR Business Partner
SUTTER HEALTH
02.2019 - 03.2023
- Strategic HR partner supporting ancillary and nursing departments representing 4,000+ employees across three unions within a 400-bed acute-care hospital.
- Partnered with leadership to develop and implement workforce and organizational strategies supporting business objectives, employee engagement, retention, and organizational change.
- Advised leaders, managers, and employees on complex HR matters, enhancing employee relations, labor relations, and performance management through effective coaching, development, and conflict resolution.
- Managed complex employee and labor relations cases, including workplace investigations, grievances, mediations, departmental interventions, work-environment assessments, and corrective action.
- Interpreted and administered three collective bargaining agreements as well as exempt and non-exempt management policies.
- Collaborated with Workforce Labor Relations and Legal teams to ensure consistent interpretation and administration of collective bargaining agreements, addressing complex labor matters.
- Designed and delivered leadership education on ADA compliance, Just Culture, and workplace investigations, equipping leaders with skills for effective performance improvement and corrective action documentation.
- Reduced employee corrective actions by 25% in 2019 by promoting transparent communication, proactive coaching, and non-punitive performance management strategies.
Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant
SUTTER HEALTH
02.2018 - 02.2019
- Served as strategic talent acquisition and workforce planning consultant, enhancing Sutter Health's recruitment, retention, and nursing workforce initiatives.
- Developed and executed enterprise talent strategies designed to attract, develop, and retain high-performing nursing talent.
- Collaborated with Chief Nurse Executives and senior leadership on talent management, workforce planning, and organizational capability initiatives, driving alignment with business goals.
- Served as a subject matter expert for recruitment analytics, talent pipelines, sourcing strategies, and workforce planning.
- Analyzed workforce and labor-market data, identified trends, visualized findings, and translated insights into actionable recommendations for business leaders.
- Tracked internal and external labor-market trends, identifying workforce risks and opportunities to address emerging talent needs.
- Partnered across affiliates, regions, system functions, and external consulting organizations to develop cost-effective talent solutions aligned with strategic business priorities.
Recruiter
SUTTER HEALTH
08.2011 - 02.2018
- Managed high-volume, full-cycle recruitment, filling 350+ requisitions annually while maintaining an average workload of 75+ active requisitions.
- Recruited technical and Epic EHR professionals as well as non-clinical hospital employees across Sacramento-area hospitals and Sutter Coast Hospital.
- Developed strategic sourcing and recruitment plans for difficult-to-fill IT, technical, and acute-care positions.
- Partnered with hiring managers to identify current and future workforce requirements and develop targeted talent acquisition strategies.
- Managed sourcing, candidate assessment, selection, and internal applicant processes, ensuring compliance with organizational policies and collective bargaining agreements.
- Served as Interim Recruitment Supervisor, providing leadership to a team of recruiters, sourcers, and recruiting coordinators.
- Managed relationships with 100+ external staffing vendors, enhancing processes for temporary and contract workforce recruitment.
- Streamlined interviewing, hiring, and onboarding processes for contractors and temporary employees, facilitating faster integration into the organization.
- Partnered across HR functions to ensure recruitment practices aligned with collective bargaining agreements and organizational requirements.
Senior Recruiter
DIGNITY HEALTH
05.2007 - 07.2011
- Managed full-cycle recruitment, including strategic sourcing, candidate screening, interviewing, selection, and offer negotiation.
- Managed 35–45 active requisitions monthly while partnering with hiring leaders to meet operational and workforce demands.
- Built and developed internal talent acquisition capability to attract high-quality candidates across clinical, behavioral health, business operations, management, and executive functions.
- Leveraged social media, career websites, job boards, networking, and recruiting events to develop sustainable external talent pipelines.
- Analyzed recruiting pipeline activity and workforce trends to identify opportunities and recommend enhancements to talent acquisition strategies.
- Planned and executed recruiting events and represented the organization at career fairs to identify and engage qualified talent.
- Served as a strategic business partner to leadership in support of organizational hiring and workforce objectives.
- Managed staffing-vendor relationships and contingent workforce solutions to effectively address temporary and hard-to-fill staffing requirements.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Behavioral Science
California State Polytechnic University
Pomona01-1998
Human Resources Management Certificate -
California State Polytechnic University
PomonaProject Management Certification - College of Continuing Education
California State University
SacramentoSkills
- HR Business Partnership
- Employee and Labor Relations
- Collective Bargaining Agreements
- Union negotiations
- Workplace Investigations
- Grievance Resolution
- Employment Law & Policy Interpretation
- Performance Management
- Leadership Coaching & Development
- Change management
- Workforce Planning
- Talent Acquisition & Management
- Employee retention
- ADA Accommodations
- Conflict mediation
- HR analytics
- Strategic HR Initiatives
- People Leadership
Accomplishments
- 2026 Acts of HumanKindness Award for EXCELLENCE
Timeline
Senior HR Business Partner
DIGNITY HEALTH
03.2023 - Current
HR Business Partner
SUTTER HEALTH
02.2019 - 03.2023
Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant
SUTTER HEALTH
02.2018 - 02.2019
Recruiter
SUTTER HEALTH
08.2011 - 02.2018
Senior Recruiter
DIGNITY HEALTH
05.2007 - 07.2011
Bachelor of Arts - Behavioral Science
California State Polytechnic University
Human Resources Management Certificate -
California State Polytechnic University
Project Management Certification - College of Continuing Education
California State University