Human capital management (HCM) consultancy, Smart WFM, announced the appointment of Pete Brabenec as its USA Lead. He will work closely with CEO Jarrod McGrath to build out the company’s customer base following its recent expansion in the region.
From Accenture-owned Workforce Insight, where he served as Vice President of Services, Brabenec brings 20 years’ workforce management experience across the globe to the role.
He was VP of Enterprise HCM at the US division of Presence of IT which was acquired by Workforce Insight. He was in many manufacturing consulting roles at Kronos, now UKG.
Past tag-team ventures with the CEO
Brabenec worked with McGrath at Presence of IT and Kronos and the pair have long shared similar ambitions and approaches to people-first workforce management. He joins Carolyn Coplin, HCM Consultant at Smart WFM, who started working with the consultancy in August.
They aim to further grow the team and target opportunities in a variety of industries.
“Smart WFM is equipped with a unique company vision and has the additional ability to put the workforce at the center of workforce management,” said Brabenec.
“That should, of course, be the de facto standard, but the far-ranging issues we see across the sector – including underpayment, a lack of digitalization and buy-in to digitalization, and disconnect between people, processes, and technology – tell a different story.”
“Smart WFM solves workforce challenges and creates opportunities like no others, and as companies adjust to a hybrid workforce, it’s a great time to join the journey Smart WFM is on.”
Brabenec has a unique approach and experience in workforce management leadership in the USA, which will be instrumental to the company as it expands globally.
He will be part of the new global leadership team the company established following its recent expansion, which also saw Rob Scott being promoted to Chief Operating Officer.
Why Pete Brabenec
McGrath, who authored The Digital Workforce 2nd Edition expressed his excitement.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Pete at a number of roles, but we’ve always stayed in touch due to our shared perspective on the industry.”
“There is a growing expectation that organizations digitalize their workforce management and human capital management structures in a way that aligns people, processes and technology.”
“Peter understands the nuances needed to make this happen, particularly in the manufacturing setting and I’m thrilled that he’s joined the company at this momentous time.”
The company is putting particular emphasis on manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and government, with Brabenec seeing a huge opportunity as a new generation of workers enters these sectors and brings a new mindset towards technology.
“Technology adoption has been slow in some of these industries.”
“This is a sore point due to the disruption it’s brought to jobs but some sectors, for example, retail, are setting the global standard for digital workforce management.”
“And new generations are bringing a new mindset – where they expect digitalization and want to use it to evolve their roles. This speaks perfectly to Smart WFM’s ethos,” said McGrath.
