Recognizes a new member who shows exceptional promise of leadership and contribution to the association and profession. Recipients should be in the first five years of their career in public sector human resources management and can include those who have moved into public service mid-career.
“Denae has been an absolute superstar in the City of DeSoto. She is the Assistant Director but has taken on many of the director’s tasks as well as her own. She is that person who says “I’ll take care of it” and you won’t have to think about the project again.”
-Kathleen Mary Shields
City of Taylor
HR Strategic Department of the Year
The HR Strategic Department of the Year award is a new award category that recognizes the outstanding contributions that an HR team has made in the past 18 months to their City and the employees they serve. The Strategic HR Department of the Year award acknowledges the efforts made to enhance and further the mission, vision and values of the organization and its culture while aligning strategic HR practices and programs.
“During the last 15 months, the City of Taylor’s Human Resources Department has transitioned from an administrative role to a strategic partner. The office has made changes to recruitment strategies, revised polices to meet the needs of our employees and the organization, and improved processes. These changes streamlined internal processes, gave supervisors time back to accomplish their goals, and saved the City money at a time when they are experiencing growing pains from an influx of new businesses and residents.”
-Jeffery Jenkins, Deputy City Manager, City of Taylor
Linda Spacek, City of San Marcos
Human Resources Management Professional of the Year
Recognizes the human resources professional who has made significant contributions to the field of municipal human resources management in the past 18 months.
“I am making this nomination because Linda’s efforts and contribution to the HR Workgroup have not yet been recognized. Had it not been for her work with Teams (DeSoto doesn’t have Teams), much of this information could not have been accessed by many HR professionals during a time when they really needed it.”
-Kathleen Mary Shields
City of Burleson
Innovation in Municipal Human Resources Management
Recognizes the local government that has developed innovative programs and services to solve municipal human resources management problems and create opportunities for its community to reach its full potential. This award is aimed at programs that have been created or modified in the past 18 months.
“In the current employment crisis of “The Great Resignation” we need to make sure that we are always on top of pay and benefits as well as culture in order to attract, hire and retain top talent. As the competitive salary marketplace has been pushed to the forefront of people’s minds we need to be sure our pay is extremely competitive as well. This calls for a lot of current salary survey data, especially for lower level multi incumbent positions. In order to be able to provide our customers the best service possible we need to attract and retain top talent and competitive pay is an important part in doing just that.”
-Rick DeOrdio, Director of Human Resources, City of Burleson
2021 TMHRA Professional Awards Gallery
Kelly Rodriguez, Human Resources Generalist, City of Killeen
Rising Star Award Recipient
Recognizes a new member who shows exceptional promise of leadership and contribution to the association and profession. Recipients should be in the first five years of their career in public sector human resources management and can include those who have moved into public service mid-career.
City of Anna
HR Strategic Department of the Year
The HR Strategic Department of the Year award is a new award category that recognizes the outstanding contributions that an HR team has made in the past 18 months to their City and the employees they serve. The Strategic HR Department of the Year award acknowledges the efforts made to enhance and further the mission, vision and values of the organization and its culture while aligning strategic HR practices and programs.
Kathleen Shields, Managing Director of Human Resources, City of DeSoto
Human Resources Management Professional of the Year
Recognizes the human resources professional who has made significant contributions to the field of municipal human resources management in the past 18 months.
City of Fort Worth
Innovation in Municipal Human Resources Management
Recognizes the local government that has developed innovative programs and services to solve municipal human resources management problems and create opportunities for its community to reach its full potential. This award is aimed at programs that have been created or modified in the past 18 months.
Amanda Kellam, Senior HR Analyst, City of Plano
TMHRA Memorial Award
This award is in memory of and acknowledges previous TMHRA members who were dedicated to the continuous pursuit of practical and applicable knowledge in the field of Human Resources as well as their active encouragement and mentorship of others within their profession. This award is intended to recognize the human resources professional(s) who embody these observed attributes. The recipient must be an Active, Affiliate, Cooperating, or Emeritus member of TMHRA. The recipient(s) of this award will receive a scholarship to attend the subsequent year’s TMHRA Annual Conference in the form of the waiver of the conference registration fee.
