Meet Brooke Harris, Regional HR Director for KHN Region 1. Brooke was born in Colorado and spent most of her youth growing up in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She moved to Ohio after completing her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Oakwood University in 1995. After working a few years, she decided to pursue a Master of Science degree in Business and Industrial Management Counseling, from Wright State University and began her HR career in 1999.
Brooke joined Kettering Health Network in October 2019 as the Director of HR for Sycamore Medical Center. With the onset of COVID-19 and a restructuring of the Human Resources Department she moved into the role Regional HR Director for KHN Region 1 in June of 2020. In that role she is leading the HR departments supporting Kettering, Sycamore, Troy, Piqua, Kettering College, Soin, Greene and Network departments. She shares that she has felt “so blessed to be able to expand and work with many wonderful teams across the network now in my new role.” One of her greatest accomplishments so far has been her ability to support her teams to continue their growth as professionals, providing a different perspective on policy and processing implementation, as well as, support them in providing excellent HR support services, especially through the challenges of the pandemic.
Brooke recalls feeling like she was coming home, when every meeting she had during her interview phase with leaders at Sycamore, started with prayer. It was one of the things that drew her to work at Kettering Health Network. She is inspired each day by the committed employees of this network. From front line employees to leaders, she has witnessed time and time again a true commitment to the mission and has seen how they go above and beyond to provide a positive impact to patients, the communities, and each other.
She leaves us with two pieces of advice: One – “Let your work speak for you. Always perform as though each thing you are doing will speak on behalf of you as an employee and a professional, because it does! You may be interviewing for your next role just by the way you perform your current one. Your work is your calling card. Keep that in mind.” Two – “Find your joy. So many times, we can get focused solely on advancement but sometimes you find that you have advanced yourself right out of the type of work that really brought you joy. Once you find the work that brings you joy stay with it. That joy will make you more creative, committed and lead you to do great things just because it’s what you love to do.”