Being an HR Influencer –

Bette Francis is a senior professional in human resources with 25 year’s experience developing talent and improving productivity in rapidly growing organizations. 

Francis has designed the human resources services in medical device manufacturing, in a rapidly-expanding healthcare management consulting organization with a primary focus on merger and acquisition, nutraceutical ingredients and in a telecommunications organization named to the INC 500 of fastest growing private companies. 

Francis is currently Vice President/Director, Human Resources, with Wilmington Trust, Wealth Advisory Services. In addition to senior HR roles, Francis has held executive leadership roles within the businesses including technical services, customer service, compliance, ethics and administrative operations. Strategic contributions include developing, implementing and communicating the balanced scorecard in three organizations that included developing the corporate strategy map, mission and values, culture, organizational development, and customer excellence. 

Francis is a graduate of Thomas Edison College and an active member of SHRM since 1990. Francis has held leadership positions in the North Jersey-Rockland Chapter, chaired the Garden State Council’s Employer of Choice, Vendor and Annual Conference committees prior to becoming Executive Director, Garden State Council. During her tenure as State Director, the GSC was awarded the first state council Pinnacle Award. In addition, Francis has served on the Area Board chairing the committee that designed the first Area (now regional) scholarship awards, the first Area (now regional) Workforce Readiness Committee initially known as Welfare to Work. She was also a contributor to Tapping into Experience, A Guide to Optimizing the Talents of Senior HR Officers created in the Northeast Region. 

Francis served two years on the Human Capital Measurement Special Expertise Panel. Prior to her appointment as a Director-at-Large on the 2007 SHRM Board, Francis served as the MAC Representative for the Northeast Region. Francis has held adjunct faculty positions at Bergen Community College and New York University’s Marketing and Management Institute and has been a guest lecturer to the Stevens’ School of Management Technology and Fordham University’s School of International Business Management. Francis has also facilitated HR Fundamentals and the HR Learning System at Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey. 

Currently, Francis serves as the 2013-2014 Chair, Board of Directors for the Society for Human Resource Management. She is a member of the Advisory Board, Thomas Edison College School of Business. Francis is also a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and holds the designation of Fellow in Board Leadership.