This is Karen Kurt:
Karen is the Human Reources Manager for the City of Eden Prairie. Karen is ablely assisted by Lisa Rund, Jayna Kalkas, and Wendy Schmitz.
Karen has been with the City for almost one year. Prior to joining the City, Karen worked for Minnesota Technology and the City of Roseville in HR leadership positions.
Karen has been a great find for the City. We had over 200 applicants for our HR Manager position. She rose to the top because of her previous experience in both the private and public sectors, her educational background, and her willingness to take on the HR Manager position as we imagined it in Eden Prairie.
I have a vision for the place that I believe the Human Resources Manager should play in an organization. I believe that HR should function as a service function for the operating departments. It should be a servant, not a master.
That does not mean that we ignore the advice and counsel of the HR Manager. In fact, if a Department Director plans to ignore or revise the advice of the HR Manager, the Director better have a pretty good reason for that. It’s not something we do lightly.
Karen excels because she has the respect and trust of the management staff of the City. She wields power within our organization without having a lot of formal organizational power vested in her position.
She is valuable to our organization, and we’re lucky to have her on our team.
