Liz Supinski, SHRM-SCP, is the Director of Research Products and Data Science at SHRM. Within the Research department at SHRM, Liz is the lead technical research expert and data scientist.
Trained as an Industrial-Organizational psychologist, Liz’s career has taken her into many different aspects of improving the world of work. Liz has worked with police and fire departments across the country and federal law enforcement to develop and administer entry-level and promotional tests, developed and administered assessment centers for public sector leaders, and conducted job analysis studies for federal agencies. As an HR consultant she has helped start-ups transition to having their own HR departments, and helped build custom job application portals. After having been a SHRM member for some time, Liz joined the staff of SHRM in 2015 as part of the certification department. As the Manager for Scoring and Psychometrics, Liz was responsible for the analytic components of SHRM’s certification programs and contributed to the development of the SHRM People Manger Qualification (PMQ). In early 2018, Liz transitioned to the Research department.
Liz has spoken at numerous conferences on research topics including employee benefits, external/gig workers, and the employment of workers with criminal backgrounds. As a member of the Research team, she has worked on projects for Dubai Government Human Resources, and with SAP SuccessFactors’ Human Capital Management Research, Oxford Economics, Gallup, NORC at the University of Chicago, and many other organizations.
Liz achieved her first graduate degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from George Mason University, and her second graduate degree in Data Science from Indiana University. She is an avid lifelong learner, and reader, who enjoys working with data to answer questions and solve problems. Liz is passionate about advancing the HR profession and bettering workplaces through research and the good use of data.
Liz believes that data science and AI have great potential to transform the world of work. This technology is helping us identify and track the skill sets of our workforces so that our businesses can rapidly pivot to new opportunities, powering apps that learn the preferences of hourly workers and make it easier for them to have control of their schedules, and helping us find job candidates with the skills we need from new candidate pools. Technology, like all good tools, lets us extend our reach and do things better and faster, but in the HR space, it works best when tempered with deep understanding of work, workers and workplaces.
members with backgrounds in industrial-organizational psychology, business, politics and foreign affairs, and marketing. Each team member brings a unique perspective to the shared goal of providing SHRM members with data and recommendations to help make work better for everyone.
The Research Department sits within the Knowledge Development and Certification Division at SHRM, led by Chief Knowledge Officer Alex Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP (profiled in a previous edition of HR Professionals Magazine). Alex sets strategic vision for the division as whole and supports the research team directly as a technical and subject matter expert, having been a former research team member himself!
Trent Burner, MA, SHRM-SCP is the VP of the Research department, leading the department and overseeing strategy implementation and developing research partnerships. Prior to joining SHRM’s leadership team, Trent served as a SHRM Certification Commissioner. Trent joined SHRM in January of 2018 after leading various HR Centers of Expertise for 15 years at Walmart Stores, Inc. While at Walmart, Trent has led large and complex HR projects in India, China, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Canada, the UK, and the US.
Elaine Greenway is the Director of Workforce Research and, with Liz and Trent, leads and manages the Research team. Prior to joining SHRM, she spent 19 years at Walmart Inc. leading global programs and teams within Global Business Services and Human Resources and has extensive experience in organizational design, talent assessment, process design and automation, project management, job design, job valuation, recruiting and employee relations.