The Greenhouse podcast: People-first, featuring Brian Baker and Stephanie Kramer
People-first companies prioritize their people and foster a culture of hiring. They understand that people are their most valuable asset, so they treat all their people practices – especially hiring – as strategic, rather than administrative, functions. On the Greenhouse podcast: People-first, join host Donald Knight, Chief People Officer at Greenhouse, as he sits down with individuals at innovative organizations to discover how these companies prioritize their people.
In this episode, Donald is joined by Brian Baker, Chief People Officer at Teneo, and Stephanie Kramer, Chief Human Resources Officer at L’Oréal USA to discuss how a combination of inclusion, diversity and intention helps drive business success. We’ll also talk about the importance of developing good leaders, not just good products — and why leaders should actively seek feedback from their teammates.
Embrace the power of consistency. Create a clear framework across teams with equally invested leaders.”
Stephanie Kramer
Chief Human Resources Officer, L’Oréal USA
The leading generation of People and HR leaders with P&L and business anchored experiences brings a radically different set of skills to the table.”
Brian Baker
Chief People Officer, Teneo
There's more than one path to becoming a great business or people leader. Anyone can create meaningful impact.”
Donald Knight
Chief People Officer, Greenhouse
Learn more
Love the People-first podcast? Find out how Greenhouse promotes inclusivity, creates a culture of belonging and embraces diverse perspectives in our product, our culture and our community by visiting us at greenhouse.io/belonging.
Special thanks to our production partner, Wonder Media Network. Our producer is Brittany Martinez, and our supporting producer is Sara Schleede, with additional production assistance from Lila Watts. Our Greenhouse producer is Marnie Williams.
About Stephanie Kramer
Stephanie is Chief Human Resources Officer at L’Oréal USA. As a beauty industry executive with 20 years of experience on three continents, Stephanie brings leadership expertise across global luxury and professional brands with dynamic marketing capabilities and a dedicated people-first approach.
Most recently, she was Global Senior Vice President of Marketing, Product Innovation and Retail at SkinCeuticals. Prior to joining SkinCeuticals in 2019, Kramer served as Vice President of Global Marketing for Kiehl's Since 1851 also at L'Oréal, where she contributed to driving the business's sustained double-digit growth and global expansion, and created its global sustainability program, Made Better.
Preceding Kiehl's, she held positions in fragrances and skincare at Chanel, Inc., and in the Professional and Luxury Product divisions at L'Oréal. She joined L'Oréal in 2007 from the fragrance house, Quest International. She is an Adjunct Professor of Communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology and author of "Carry Strong: An Empowered Approach to Pregnancy and Work" (Penguin Life, May 2023).
About Brian Baker
Brian is Chief People Officer with Teneo. Brian focuses on growing our people and growing our teams, so that they can grow our business. Prior to Teneo, Brian was at WPP where he was most recently Chief People Officer, Global Clients. In this role, he was a member of WPP’s Global People Leadership Team and also served as the Chief People Officer for OpenX, WPP’s strategic partnership with The Coca-Cola Company. Before moving to CPO, he was the Global Head of Talent Management and Client HR and the People Strategy lead for WPP.
Prior to joining WPP in 2020, Brian was a partner in Mercer’s New York office and the U.S. digital workforce leader. He focused on driving Mercer’s advisory services business in the area of digital workforce transformation, building on the firm’s Workforce for the Future platform.
Prior to Mercer, Brian was the SVP of Global People Strategy, Analytics, and Associate Experience at Walmart. In this role he transformed the global people function to a talent-focused enabler of business growth. Previously, he held positions in consulting at Accenture, where he led key HR initiatives and developed talent and diversity and inclusion strategies for numerous Fortune 100 companies.
Brian has also led transformational business initiatives while working for Aon Hewitt and internally for Credit Suisse and IBM. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration (dual concentration in marketing and management) from Northeastern University in Boston.
About Donald Knight
Donald is the CPO at Greenhouse Software. He leads with a people-first mentality hoping to unlock the potential of Greenhouse talent globally. With a laser focus on the connection between people and the processes that serve them, Donald and his team create proximity by building bridges focusing on enhanced experiences that nurture culture and develop people. He is responsible for providing global strategy and leadership in developing, overseeing and administering people programs.
Before Greenhouse, Donald served as Senior Vice President of Global Talent for Edelman, where he helped shape the HR brand as a proactive, insightful and collaborative solution provider.