PBC SHRM 2023 PRESIDENT

Katie I. Kato, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Letter from the President

Dear Palm Beach County SHRM Chapter members,

It is my honor and privilege to serve as your Palm Beach County SHRM Chapter President for 2023-2024!! We are so pleased to be representing the human resources professionals in our community:

“The mission of Palm Beach County’s Society for Human Resources Management Chapter is to promote organizational excellence through the advancement of the Human Resources profession in partnership with our business community.”

This year’s PBC SHRM Board and Leadership Team is highly engaged and has planned such an exciting year! We have so many ways for each of you to get involved in our Chapter. It will be our continued focus to create events and professional development opportunities for our Chapter members to get together with live, in-person monthly Chapter meetings offering cutting-edge in-services. And, based on feedback from our membership, we are strategically having quarterly Social/Networking events, and other activities, to allow our Chapter members to further their interactions with each other.

Our Palm Beach County SHRM Chapter is also proud to be aligned with SHRM National on the Dual Membership Release (DMR) program and this has helped to make us a SHRM Mega Chapter, and we are 550+ members strong. We have been a 100% SHRM Chapter for many years, and in 2021, we became fully integrated with the Dual Membership program with SHRM. This affords us the ability to offer greater resources and services to our local Chapter members.

With this change, the program also enables us to jointly renew our PBC SHRM Chapter membership (of $20/year) along with SHRM’s membership in one transaction with one profile – all of this will be handled by SHRM’s robust systems. Members have been asking for this solution for years, and it is finally happening! PBC SHRM Chapter members will no longer pay separate Chapter membership dues directly to the Chapter but will instead renew their PBC SHRM Chapter membership at the same time that they renew their SHRM membership.

To enhance the value of our PBC SHRM Chapter membership, in 2023, we have added so many new programs and activities, with discounted pricing for our Chapter members! This includes:

• Our monthly Chapter meetings and educational in-services, which offer 1.0 PDC.
• Our Annual Conference, which offers 10.5 PDC’s when you attend the full conference, and up to another 8.0 PDC’s with our NEW virtual platform capabilities.
• Our NEW monthly Virtual Meetings, which offer 1.0 PDC/meeting.
• Our NEW video platform, which allows access to many PBC SHRM recorded programs.
• Our New Quarterly Social/Networking events at local fun venues around the county.
• Our NEW Quarterly Diversity Book Club meetings which also offer PDCs!
• Our Quarterly HR Competitive Edge Series which offers 1.0 PDC/session.
• Our monthly virtual HR Happy Hour for ’in Transition’ members.
• Our NEW Quarterly “Ask the HR  Pro” open forum virtual sessions to match seasoned HR professional with our emerging professionals.
• Our Quarterly Lynn Breakfast Education Series, which offers 1.0 PDC/session.
• A newly revamped Job Posting on our website that offers employers more cost-effective postings with HR employment opportunities, and which offers our Chapter members access to HR positions.
• Timely notification of Professional Development Credits after each eligible program, for both HRCI & SHRM certifications.

So, please join the 2023 PBC SHRM Board and Leadership team at our upcoming events and activities, and make your connection to our Chapter even stronger. We look forward to meeting each of you and making our Chapter the best it can be!!

Thank you, and very warm regards,

Katie I. Kato, M.Ed, SPHR (Lifetime), SHRM-SCP

Katie I. Kato has thirty-five+ years of human resources experience serving in leadership roles primarily within the hospital & healthcare industry. She is the President/ Chief Human Resources Strategist for The Human Resources Factor, LLC, where she provides human resources consulting services to small businesses with various HR and employment-related compliance matters including her current role as Senior Director of Human Resources at iRISE Spine & Joint. Previously, she was the Senior Vice President-Human Resources/Chief Human Resources Officer for Promise Healthcare/Success Healthcare (with 19 facilities in 9 states) in Boca Raton, FL. She also worked as Interim VP HR for HCA West Hills Hospital and HCA Aventura Medical Center and Director of Human Resources for HCA Palms West Hospital & HCA Largo Medical Center, Regional Director of Human Resources for Doctor’s Hospital/Miami Rehab/West Gables/Larkin Hospitals (previously with HealthSouth…now part of Baptist Healthcare), Senior Home Care (a home health company), Parkway Regional Medical Center, and other HR roles/positions.

Katie is very proud to have served on the PBC SHRM Board since 2016 and is very excited to be the 2023 President for PBC SHRM.  Since 1987, she has served in a number of other SHRM Board roles with the North Central Florida SHRM, Greater Miami SHRM, and Suncoast SHRM Chapters including Secretary, VP Membership, At-Large Director, Non-Dues Revenue, College Relations, Programs, Awards Chairs and Past-President of the Student Chapter of ASPA (predecessor of SHRM) at the University of Florida. She was also previously the President of the ASTD Chapter (now ATD) in North Central Florida.

Katie received her bachelor’s and master’s Degrees from the University of Florida and is lifetime certified by HRCI as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), & a Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) with the Society for Human Resources Management. 

President@pbcshrm.org

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