About our Chief Shepherd - Ashley
My Background
I've spent nearly 20 years in HR leadership across manufacturing, banking & finance, forestry & wood products, agriculture, hospitality, food distribution & warehousing, and local government - seven industries, the same blind spots every time. I've overseen and restructured teams from line-level roles all the way through the C-suite, including leading the HR side of a major company merger that delivered $3.5 million in synergy savings within the first year.
I've served as executive sponsor and administrator for ERP, ATS, Performance, Risk Management and HRIS solutions; redesigned compensation and classification structures; and administered benefits, workers' compensation, and liability programs; along with the day-to-day work that keeps a business running well.
I attained an SPHR certification, a Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining Certificate from Cornell University, and a degree in Business Administration from Eastern Washington University.
But what I actually bring to your business is simpler than credentials: I understand employment and labor law, I understand budgets and forecasting, and I understand people, and I can move between big-picture strategy and the actual document that needs written.
My Culture Work in Business & Leadership
Across every industry I've worked in, one thread has stayed constant: organizations often bring me in specifically because something in their culture isn't working. Turnover is too high, teams have stopped trusting leadership, or people are simply going through the motions instead of showing up fully. I've been the change agent walking into that, again and again, and I've learned that fixing it takes more than a survey and a slogan.
My work here is hands-on. I build leadership programs that actually correct course, not just paper over the symptoms. I ask the hard questions leadership has been avoiding, and I stay in the work long enough to see the answers turn into real change, not just a good conversation. That means sitting with leaders while they learn to see the people on their teams as more than headcount, and holding them accountable to lead with integrity even when no one's watching.
I believe leadership success and culture transformation are the same project, not two separate ones. My strength is holding both the big picture, business strategy, profitability, operational reality, and the people responsible for carrying it out, at the same time. Done right, culture work isn't a soft add-on to the business plan. It's what makes the business plan sustainable.