Kris Saling | Speaker, Author, Innovator

Kris is a recognized leader in the United States Army people enterprise, who has spent the past eight years investigating new technologies and analytics, pairing them with teams of talented individuals, partnering with academia and industry to deliver best practices, and attacking the Army’s most pressing challenges in people analytics and talent management.

A university-trained complexity scientist and a self-taught big data analyst and technologist, she has learned to not only leverage her technical skills, but also become versed in the areas of government contracting and acquisition, data governance, Army personnel policy, law, and statute, and the business process of innovation – all the building blocks necessary to take new offices and organizations from 0 to 1 within the immense bureaucracy of the Army and the federal government.

Since she arrived at the Headquarters Department of the Army G-1 in 2016, she established data, analytics, and innovation teams and capabilities for the Army Talent Management Task Force, for the ASA(M&RA)’s People Analytics directorate, for US Army Human Resources Command, and is now designing the Innovation Directorate for US Army Recruiting Command.

As an operations research and systems analyst, Kris has received several analytic awards, including the Wayne P. Hughes award for outstanding junior analyst, has published extensively, and speaks regularly on analytic topics and applications in the human domain.

Data, Talent, and the Future of Work

Kris is not just an Army human resources professional but an adventurer, a wife, a mom, and a foodie who believes strongly in work-life alignment. Her work in data-driven talent management turned rapidly into the study of employee experience, motivation, and autonomy, which led her to look at better ways of supporting both an employee’s ability to work and to take care of their families and their well-being.

When given an opportunity to pilot remote work for the active duty Army in return for agreeing to continue her service instead of retiring as she intended, Kris agreed, and has spent nearly three years living, working, and taking care of her family 890 miles from her higher headquarters, all while driving massive transformation in the Army’s people enterprise. She hopes that the success of this pilot allows for greater flexibility in the Army when it comes to attracting, employing, and retaining its greatest asset – its people.

Writing

Kris has been published in many different venues, from online and print journals to frequent articles and interviews to her upcoming book.

Speaking

Kris has had the opportunity to be an official U.S. Army speaker many times on behalf of people analytics and talent management. At this time, her opinions do not represent the official opinion of the Army, but they still encourage her to get out and speak frequently!

Innovating

Kris has developed new business methods for the Army to harness and implement novel ideas and concepts. As a scientist, she thinks of it less as thinking outside the box and more as blowing up constraints to expand the feasible region!