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2024 Enterprising Leadership Grant Award Winners


The WI SHRM Enterprising Leadership Grant was established in 2008. It awards a chapter or chapters a financial award to support a “partnership” with another Wisconsin-based organization that promotes communication and collaboration between HR and other business professionals and organizations across the state. It funds innovative initiatives that strive to bring business professionals together toward a common cause led by the HR community.

Up to $7,500 was available this year for Wisconsin SHRM Chapters to implement an activity or initiative in Enterprising HR Leadership. Criteria included having:
 
  • a partnership with an organization outside of SHRM with goals and objectives that help advance the HR profession.
  • a joint planned activity or initiative with that organization that demonstrates enterprising HR leadership, communication, collaboration, and education of business professionals.

This year, we received a record number of applications, and each reflected the work that each chapter is either doing or proposing to engage with local organizations and partner on essential initiatives in their respective communities.

While we would have liked to have supported each chapter’s initiatives, we selected six chapters to receive partial Enterprising Leadership Grant awards. We were honored to announce and recognize our recipients at our December State Council meeting.

This year’s Enterprising Leadership Grant recipients, in no particular order, are:
 
  1. La Crosse Area SHRM – This chapter started an Emerging Professionals group in 2021 and has strengthened its relationship with local educational organizations to continue to provide programming to students and emerging professionals.
  1. Jefferson County Human Resources Management Association—This chapter made it its mission in 2024 to better connect local employers with a skilled immigrant workforce. They hosted a major conference on this topic and continue to partner with a local school district’s adult English as a Second Language program to provide educational materials to help develop English language skills and enhance the employability of area residents.
  1. Metro Milwaukee SHRM – This chapter is continuing a partnership with the National Association for African Americans in Human Resources. With this existing partnership, the chapter is looking to host a joint event at America’s Black Holocaust Museum in February 2025 to recognize and celebrate Black History Month.
  1. Green Bay Area SHRM — For the past two years, this chapter has worked to connect ten local non-profit organizations with their chapter and the employers represented by the chapter members through each organization’s monthly spotlights. The information these organizations share helps connect resources for those in need and creates a more significant community between the non-profits and local businesses.
  1. Fond du Lac SHRM – This chapter has partnered with a local safety council and a young professionals' organization. They have offered a variety of programming and plan to provide a session on self-defense in 2025.
  1. Sheboygan Area SHRM - This chapter has partnered with a local leadership development and culture design company. They are looking to host a leadership day to provide attendees with leadership development programming, networking opportunities, and a tour of Lambeau Field.
 
Thank you to all our grant recipients and those who submitted their applications this year. Please consider this grant next year when we open the application process in late fall for your 2026-chapter initiatives.

 


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Contact Information

 

Jeff Palkowski,MHRM, SHRM-SCP, PHR, PMQ
State Director

Ph:  414.467.5247
Em:  statedirector@wishrm.org
Term Start:  1/1/2025

Biography

Jeff Palkowski, MHRM, SHRM-SCP, PMQ, PHR, recently retired from public service after several HR positions with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the State of Wisconsin. He has worked in private and public sector human resources roles and has been an active member of SHRM at the national, state, and local chapter levels since 2003.

Jeff will serve as the State Director of the Wisconsin State Council SHRM in 2025-2026, is the Ambassador for Individual Giving for the SHRM Foundation, and is a SHRM Foundation Leadership Circle member. He previously served as the Director of Government Affairs, District Director South West and South East, Communications and Social Media Director, State Director-Elect for Wisconsin State Council SHRM, and a volunteer leader for the Greater Madison Area SHRM and Blackhawk HRA chapters.

Jeff is active on social media and is Hootsuite Social Marketing Certified. He has been invited to serve on the SHRM Annual Conference Influencer Teams since 2019 and brought this concept to Wisconsin to establish the WI SHRM State Conference SMILE Team in 2021. He has appeared on HR-related podcasts, including We’re Only Human Show, HR Mixtape, SHRM HR Storytellers, HR Social Hour, Life in the Leadership Lane, HR Like a Boss, Be Well with Mel, and HR Break Room. He has also been cited in numerous media publications and is a contributor to the book “Drive with Purpose: Move Your Career from Success to Significance” by Bruce Waller. Jeff posts on his blog, HRSushiBar.com, and you can follow him on X (@JeffPally) and LinkedIn.

Jeff serves on the board for DisruptHR Madison and was a featured speaker for their 2024 re-launch event. He is an advocate and supporter of the HR Conference Cruise. Jeff received the HRUnite! Ambassador Award in 2022 and 2024 for volunteer service to the HR profession.

Jeff is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR), SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), SHRM People Manager Qualified (PMQ), and a State of Wisconsin Notary Public. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications-Journalism (BA) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Master of Human Resources Management (MHRM) with distinction from the Keller Graduate School of Management. Jeff has completed additional coursework at Cardinal Stritch University, Purdue University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

Additional Information

The State Director is the chief elected officer of the State Council and effectively establishes policy, strategies, and objectives consistent with SHRM, Region and National Board policies. The State Director provides guidance to Council members.