HR Career Paths:
Amanda Laverty
The last 10 years have been something
of a whirlwind for Amanda
Laverty. She’s lived in Japan and
Australia, given birth to two boys
– all while building a successful human resources
career.
Her career trajectory is interesting, especially
since she wasn’t sure, like many young
people, what she wanted to do.
“I knew I loved business and people,” said
Laverty, who grew up in Corunna, Ont., a
small town outside of Sarnia. “I went to a
local college in Sarnia and loved the business
and human resources courses, so the
degree route seemed like the best starting
place. I love that HR requires you to take on
a great responsibility in guiding the company
on how to best manage and work with
their most important assets – their people!”
Armed with a business degree with a
concentration in human resources from
the University of New Brunswick, she
embarked on an international adventure
and taught English in Japan for five
months before returning to Toronto to
begin her HR career as HR coordinator
for Miller Thomson LLP.
“I’ve been fortunate to have been employed
with wonderful companies that
provided great opportunities for me,” said
Laverty. “Every role and company has provided
me with such fantastic learnings
career paths
KEEP LEARNING AND UNDERSTANDING THE INDUSTRY
AND WORLD YOU ARE WORKING IN, AS YOU NEED
TO ADAPT YOUR THINKING AND APPROACH TO BE
RELEVANT FOR THE CHANGING NEEDS OF HR.
– and a lot of time being thrown into the
deep end! I have been fortunate to work
with some great mentors – in particular at
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) – Sherri
Laurie, who is the global head of HR operations
based in Toronto, and Ross Love,
managing partner in New York (previously
in Australia).”
As global director of human resources
and operations for Perennial Inc., a
Toronto-based firm that offers strategic
retail solutions to clients, Laverty has been
in her current position since November
2012.
“I knew the previous HR director, who
had been at Perennial for over five years.
She spoke to me about the role literally as
I was about to deliver my second son in
March 2012. It obviously wasn’t the right
time for me, but it turns out it was meant to
be as they hadn’t found a permanent candidate
for the role over the following months.
I went in to meet with the leadership team
Lightspring / Shutterstock.com
in November 2012 and started that month.
Time has flown since then.”
HR Professional recently caught up with
this busy executive to find out more about
her position as a true HR generalist, and
her thoughts on the future of the human
resources field.
What are your main areas of
responsibility in your current role?
Amanda Laverty: I’m responsible for driving
Perennial’s strategic goals through
effective people practices throughout
the organization. This is a true generalist
role with ownership for operations and
HR strategy development and execution
across the Perennial Group of Companies.
Perennial has three companies in total: one
in Etobicoke, Ont. (our head office); one in
Bolton, Ont.; and one in Bangalore, India.
I spent a couple weeks in India in 2013,
which was amazing! There is a fantastic
group of employees there.
HR GENERALIST
By Lisa Kopochinski
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ SEPTEMBER 2015 ❚ 39
