Tracie Sponenberg, Chief People Officer, The Granite Group

Tracie Sponenberg, SHRM-SCP, SPHR is the Chief People Officer for The Granite Group, a full-service wholesale distributor of plumbing, heating, cooling, water and propane supplies based in Concord, NH. Responsible for leading all People functions for 45 locations throughout New England and nearly 600 team members, she has gained a broad background across a wide range of industries in more than 20 years in HR, with much of her career focused on working with CEOs to develop strategic people strategies to help organizations grow. She began her career in HR while in college, interning with a global public transportation company but found she could have the most impact on the business in mid-sized, private companies.

Tracie has a BA in Psychology from Holy Cross, which prepared her amazingly well for the world of HR, and a MA in Human Resources from Framingham State University. She is Co-Founder of DisruptHR NH and HR Rebooted and a member of SHRM’s Special Expertise Panel. Tracie is on the board of the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation; Red River Theatres (she loves movies) and The Concord Food Co-op (and also healthy food - and chocolate.) A bookworm and introvert who never spoke in class until college - and then only reluctantly - she started getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and ironically now regularly speaks on HR issues locally and nationally. Though she now realizes she won’t die speaking in public, to the media, or on camera, she still hates parties and crowds - but loves shoes and espresso. Later this year, she hopes to get back to road tripping, heading to Disney World, visiting a local coffee shop and very slowly running 5Ks with her husband, but now you can find her hanging at home with her family, cooking, reading, hiking in her backyard and virtually running 5Ks with her husband!