In contention for the TA 20

“I am proud to nominate my boss for this Talent Acquisition award in recognition of her exceptional leadership and innovation in transforming our recruiting and hiring practices. She has redesigned our approach to talent acquisition while embracing AI and empowering our team to use emerging technology to work smarter, improve processes, and deliver stronger results. Most importantly, she is a superior leader who inspires her team, supports growth and new ideas, and consistently challenges us to elevate the impact of Talent Acquisition.”

“Partnering with high growth AI startups on critical legal hires.”

“Alex builds and champions AI tooling that's fundamentally changed how our TA team operates, he's given us tools to move faster and pushed us to rethink outdated parts of the hiring process.”

“Led the reconfiguration of workflows across ORC and an AI-enabled ATS enhancement platform, resulting in more efficient and standardized processes for global Talent Acquisition teams.”

“Leah Alcaraz is a strategic recruiting leader who knows how to build high-performing teams at scale, pairing sharp business judgment with a deeply human approach to hiring. She brings AI into recruiting as an accelerator—not a substitute for judgment—using it to move faster, broaden talent reach, and make better, more data-driven hiring decisions.”

“Angela helped guide Tropicana through its spin-off from PepsiCo, then built its Integrated Talent function from scratch, folding Talent Acquisition, HR Ops, Org Effectiveness, and Learning & Development into one team instead of leaving them siloed. She built the seat before anyone handed it to her.”

“Director, Global Business Recruiting at Fin - passionate about leading through ownership, not oversight, to break hiring records; keeping humans at the forefront, championing AI as a force multiplier.”

“The tools have changed, the bar hasn't. My focus is on using AI to move faster on the parts that don't need a human, so there's more time for the parts that do.”

“I leverage AI as a thought partner to streamline workflows, accelerate decision-making, and elevate the quality of my work. From talent strategy to communications, AI allows me to move faster while maintaining the thoughtful, high-touch approach that effective talent leadership requires.”

“Shannon's spent 20 years in talent acquisition and makes time to personally coach women toward six-figure offers, on top of her day job leading technical recruiting for Autodesk across two continents. She shows up unapologetically as herself and asks every candidate to do the same, which is rarer and harder in hiring than it should be.”

“I believe candidates accept opportunities because of people, not processes. While technology and AI certainly help us move faster and make better informed decisions, meaningful engagement with future leaders remains at the center of our hiring philosophy.”

“She's the kind of leader who gets in the weeds with her team every day, understands the real problems, and then builds solutions that actually work. She's trusted everywhere because she refuses to settle and won't ask permission to chase big visions, specifically big visions around the infrastructure and tools that support our team.”

“Doug has been visualizing better talent engagement strategies for 30 years - and has the special skills to bring that vision to market. A serial entrepreneur, Doug’s current realization is AI centric: Match2 - backed by previous investors and built and delivered by previous employees (submitted by Peter@brasket.com)”

“I lead Global Talent Acquisition at Placements AI, where I focus on making hiring smarter, faster and more consistent without losing the human side of it. I use AI across my workflow, from sourcing and interview prep to capturing insights and streamlining candidate communication, giving me more time to build relationships, advise hiring teams and make better hiring decisions.”

“Kaycee believes great talent acquisition sits at the intersection of people, strategy, and innovation. As AI transforms the industry, she is focused on using technology to elevate the human side of hiring, while keeping trust, judgment, and relationships at the center of the work.”

“We’re not simply building a workforce; we’re building pathways for Deaf people to lead, thrive, and shape what comes next. AI helps us remove barriers and see possibilities sooner, but our mission and our people will always be the force that moves us forward.”

“Jennifer leads AI integration into Bristol Myers Squibb's talent acquisition workflows with a line I wish more people said out loud: use it for speed and efficiency, but keep sound judgment, equity, and the human in the loop. Her team's work helped BMS win the industry's Pathfinder Award for Talent Intelligence and AI, without losing sight of the person on the other side of every hire.”

“Mark told a room full of peers this year that AI isn't a tool, it's a cultural transformation, then went and did the ORG AI Bootcamp himself to prove it. Three decades into a career spanning Boeing, Raytheon, and now Kyndryl, he's still the one translating big talent strategy into something a 90,000-person workforce actually feels the benefit of.”

“Visionary Women Leader Award Winner. Madhu didn't just adopt AI in TA, she built two Fortune 500 recruiting orgs — Deloitte's, then Wipro's — around actually using it, not just talking about it on a panel. She's been doing the real work of making AI-enabled hiring feel human long before it was a stage topic.”