Human Resources Manager

JAMES W. WARD, MBA, SPHR

** ****** **., ***********, ** 14424 734-***-****

abnpjv@r.postjobfree.com

WORK EXPERIENCE

FERRO CORPORATION, PENN YAN, NY

Facility which includes R&D and Manufacturing employees for the Electronic Material Systems

Division. The EMS division is currently the fastest growing division within Ferro. Ferro is a

publicly traded company with 7,000 employees globally and over $2 billion in annual revenue.

Human Resources Manager 6/07-Present

•Responsible for all human resources functions including benefits, compensation,

succession planning, recruitment, retention, organizational development and

effectiveness, employee engagement, and affirmative action.

•Lead a team of North American HR Managers to develop policies and practices which

were adopted by the entire EMS Division.

•Work as a business partner in a lean manufacturing environment to include participating

in 5S and Kaizen events.

•Responsible for site-wide cultural initiatives to create an environment of trust,

accountability, continuous improvement, customer-centric thinking, and winning.

• Provide leadership and strategic thinking to make the HR department viewed as a

business partner.

• Chosen as the EMS Division member of Ferro’s SAP HRMS Core Project

implementation team.

• Responsible for developing, interpreting, and managing a budget of nearly

$500,000.00.

•Implemented the first on-site wellness program at the facility, which resulted in 76%

voluntary employee participation.

• Reassess and develop metrics, policies, and practices to optimize organizational and

operational efficiency while supporting the business strategy, core values, and culture of

the organization.

• Review employee engagement surveys with the senior leadership team and create and

implement necessary initiatives to correct any opportunities to improve the engagement

and effectiveness of the workforce.

• Responsible for all levels of succession planning at the site.

• Direct the human resources staff in establishing departmental goals and objectives,

which are designed to develop a winning, high performance culture.

GUARDIAN INDUSTRIES CORP.: 11/01-5/07

3rd largest manufacturer of glass in the world, largest manufacturer of mirrors in the world; 21,000

worldwide employees; $5 billion gross annual revenue.

Guardian Industries, Geneva, NY Plant

350 employees, consistently one of the top two profit generating plants in North America

among Guardian Industries

Senior Human Resources Generalist 6/04 – 5/07

Ensure competent delivery of all aspects of Human Resources aligned with the strategic

goals of the business in a “Number Two HR Manager” role:

•Employee relations for 350 employees

•Train and develop Human Resources Managers from our Mexico facility and several

Automotive facilities on Guardian’s best HR practices

•2007 Rochester, NY Wealth of Health Award Winner

James W. Ward, SPHR

•Evaluated annual renewals for the health insurance plan to counteract increasing

insurance premiums.

-Partnered in changing our health insurance plan from a community rated plan to an

experience based plan. This resulted in a direct $400,000 annual savings to the

plant’s bottom line.

•Lead 5S events throughout various areas of the plant in collaboration with the

production workforce and front-line supervision.

•Improved employee communication through the design of a computer kiosk.

•Heavily involved in Succession Planning for all positions within the Geneva facility.

•Effective change agent by breaking down old paradigms regarding several recruiting

initiatives, which have resulted in an increased number of offers made to exempt

employees, as well as the reduced turnover of newly hired hourly employees.

-Designed and developed a Talent Pipeline for Production Supervisors through the

use of a Leadership Development program.

-Created a collaborative work environment with our hourly workforce through the

means of hourly employees interviewing other potential hourly employees.

-Created a summer work program for college students to help with seasonal

demands, which resulted in decreased seasonal turnover, as well as an additional

avenue for sourcing future Leadership Development candidates.

•Recruiting/selection of all hourly and salary talent in the plant as well as regional outside

sales representatives.

-Increased retention of hourly employees hired in the last 12 months to 82%

compared to retention rates of 62% in 2004.

•Redesigned and Implemented training/development programs; Train the Trainer, Step-

Up Program, Targeted Selection Interview Training.

•Managed workers' compensation, disability and unemployment claims.

•Strategic resource to Shift Managers and Production Supervisors on performance

management initiatives

•Assisted in the development of annual HR department goals, metrics, and objectives

Guardian Industries, Auburn Hills, MI

Guardian Industries World Headquarters

Human Resources Business Partner 2/03 –6/04

•One of nine members of Guardian Industries’ Workplace Violence Response Team,

which is responsible for the investigations of all North American workplace violence

threats.

•Recruitment and selection of exempt employees

•Conducted new hire orientations

•Integral part of Guardian’s national 401K new vendor selection committee.

•Facilitation of the LaGrange, GA plant culture initiative to mirror the culture of our

Ligonier, IN facility, which is the leader in collaborative culture within the Automotive

Division.

•Responsible for Guardian’s national relocation provider, working collaboratively with all

North American plants addressing concerns over internal and new hire relocations.

•Responsibility for Guardian’s national background checking service, negotiating fees for

new services as well as addressing changes with all North American facilities.

•Managed the North American Corporate Employee Asisistance Program vendor

relationship.

Guardian Industries, LaGrange, GA Plant

240-employee Automotive Molding facility

Assistant Human Resources Manager 11/01 –2/03

•Responsible for reducing OSHA recordable incidents, and decreased doctor's cases by

600% in 2002. Also rewrote the Loss Control Safety Manual, which resulted in a Loss

James W. Ward, SPHR

Control Gold Award in 2002 (first automotive plant in Guardian’s history to achieve this

prestigious award for safety).

•Developed and implemented the ISO 14001 program from its initial stages through

gaining certification on the first audit.

•Certified ISO Internal Auditor

•HealthGuard’ Champion; ‘HealthGuard’ is an internal employee wellness program

focused on engaging employees in health related activities aimed at long-term results

which will positively impact the bottom line through reduced health insurance premiums.

•Managed the relationship with the temporary service agency for sourcing hourly

employees.

ROCKWELL AUTOMATION, Rogersville, TN

Fortune 500 Company, Dodge Ball Bearing division

HR Generalist 1/01 – 9/01

•Performed a job classification structure, revised and created new job descriptions for all

manufacturing positions in the Rogersville facility.

•Instrumental in the creation of a new wage structure based on a pay for knowledge

points system for a new Lean Manufacturing Environment.

•Designed and implemented the recruitment and selection process for both the exempt,

and non-exempt workforce, which increased Rockwell’s ability to make a more sound

and fair hiring decision.

•Researched and provided detailed training for a variety of functions including Sexual

Harassment training, New Employee Orientation, and Legal Interviewing training.

•Conducted wage and benefit surveys.

EDUCATION

Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 1/06-12/08

MBA 3.8 GPA

Concentration: Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises

Consistently one of the top 10 programs in the nation

University of Toledo, Toledo, OH

B.A. Marketing

B.A. Human Resource Management

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND CERTIFICATIONS

DDI - “Targeted Selection Interviewing” – Train the trainer 3/03- present

AchieveGlobal – Certified Trainer 6/06- present

Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) 12/04- present

Society of Human Resource Management 2000- present

ACTIVITIES

Habitat for Humanity 1996-present

Corporate event volunteer organizer

Staff Parish Relations Committee member at local church 2005-present

Lighthouse Path for abused women 2003-2004

Ryder Cup volunteer event organizer and coordinator

Adopt A Highway 2001-2003

Corporate volunteer organizer

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