Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.

President & CEO of SHRM

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.

President & CEO of SHRM

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Biography

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM. With nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 362 million workers and their families globally.

As a global leader on the future of employment, culture, and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers, and the workplace. Recognized as one of the “300 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America” for 2024 by Savoy Magazine, on the “Virginia 500: Power List” by Virginia Business, and as one of the “Most Influential People Shaping Public Policy” in our nation’s capital by Washingtonian Magazine, Mr. Taylor is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR."

Mr. Taylor's career spans more than 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive, and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit spaces. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/InteractiveCorp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm, and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

He is the author of the national bestseller, RESET: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval, which immediately upon its release in September 2021, was in the top three of The Wall Street Journal’s list of best-selling hardcover business books.

Mr. Taylor is a member of the United Way Worldwide Board of Trustees and serves on the corporate boards of XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO), Flores HR, and Guild Education. He previously served on the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and as chairman of the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the Trump Administration.

Women Business Collaborative (WBC) named Mr. Taylor as one of its 2023 Trailblazers in Gender Equity and Diversity for his work to achieve equal position, pay, and power for all women in business. In 2020, he received the Distinguished Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of Management, and he was named 2021 ALA Professional Society CEO of the Year by CEO Update.

He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources and is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois, and Washington, D.C.

Speaker Videos

Six Generations in the Workplace SHRM Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.

The Storm and HR SHRM Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.

Speech Topics

Maximize Human Potential: Win Together in a Shifting World

In a world characterized by constant change and economic uncertainty, the true powerhouse of any organization is its human capital. However, many organizations are not leveraging the full potential of their most valuable asset: their people. In this talk, Johnny equips executives to maximize their pivotal role in shaping the workforce, nurturing talent, and steering the organization through the complexities of the modern business landscape. When we meet uncertainty with innovative thought and evolved strategies, we’re unstoppable. Learn how — by working together — we can truly win together in the face of challenge.

Exponential Impact: Thriving in the Age of Intelligence

Internal and external pressures make one thing very clear: when it comes to pursuing organizational success, you can adapt or die. With the introduction of AI, changing economies, and more sparking change across the workforce, the need to evolve rapidly grows — but who is leading the charge? While many may look to the C-suite for direction, it’s HR that is the linchpin for navigating the adoption of tech, talent change management, and productivity. With a pulse on innovation and people management, your organization has the power to harness and integrate the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Human Intelligence (HI) to create meaningful change and exponential impact.

In this talk, Johnny speaks to how HR is uniquely positioned to monitor and integrate innovation into an organization, all while anticipating pitfalls and advancing positive outcomes. Backed with real-world examples, this keynote will teach your audience how to train for skill gaps in a truly digital economy, and pull back the curtain to reveal how to thrive in the age of intelligence.

Untapped Talent: Leveraging a Global Workforce

In an era where the digital economy has given rise to new measures of global expansion, many companies find themselves unprepared to harness the wealth of talent at their fingertips. When we open up our organizations to a world of candidates — literally — we often lack the research and training that is needed to bridge international differences and build connections across the globe. Through the message of Untapped Talent, Johnny provides key strategies on tapping into previously overlooked talent pools, ensuring your workforce possesses the skills needed for success.

Learn how a global workforce is defined and what steps must be taken to become one, while gaining the tools needed to juggle this unprecedented growth. Johnny takes decades of combined experience in people management and global expansion to bring you best practices for talent acquisition and retention in this new era of unparalleled opportunities.

Civility Starts at Work: Nurturing Civility in the Workplace to Inspire a More Civil World

As long as we have a heartbeat, polarizing topics will continue to exist both inside and outside of the workplace, leading to pain and division among colleagues, leadership, and even customers. The question is not if we deal with conflict, but how we as people and as organizations will handle it when we inevitably do. The problem is, no one has led the discussion about how to guide today’s workforce to remain civil when discussing polarizing topics… until now. With extensive experience in navigating organization-wide conflict, and influence over 362 million workers worldwide, Johnny is uniquely positioned to help all of us nurture civility in the workplace.

No stranger to the ups and downs of a divided workplace, through Civility Starts at Work, Johnny explores the impact of civility on work culture, and provides an outline for equipping employees to have candid, civil dialogue while supporting the mental health of all employees. Walk away with a strategic roadmap for facing the storm of conflict, gain insight on just how to measure and quantify people and strategy, and put your audience on a path to inspiring a more civil world.

Testimonials

“I appreciate that [Taylor] spoke talked about the emerging tech in our industry. That he is always thinking to the future is what is great about his speeches. He’s a future thinker.”

- SHRM-CP

“I’ve considered leaving [the HR] profession and have given it a lot of thought recently. What [Taylor] said today was totally inspiring. He changed my mind. He told me what I needed to hear. HR is not a ‘me’ movement; it’s an ‘us’ movement.”

- Erica Ramirez