Employ Humanity HR Executive of the Year
In the spirit of recognizing leadership excellence, Employ Humanity annually selects and celebrates one distinguished human resources executive in the United States who demonstrates excellence in the HR profession.
HR Executive of the Year: Julie Hess
Title: Vice President Human Resources
Company: Master Spas
Main Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Employ Humanity is pleased to announce Julie Hess, Vice President Human Resources at Master Spas, as the 2025 Employ Humanity HR Executive of the Year. Hess was selected because of her achievements in creating a culture where all people can bring their best self to work and for being a relentless champion for employee development, community impact and engaging employees with purposeful work. Hess is a servant leader and has demonstrated excellence in the HR profession.
"I'm very pleased to have selected Julie Hess as the 2025 Employ Humanity HR Executive of the Year," said Bill Marklein, Founder of Employ Humanity. "Master Spas is consistently in the annual Employ Humanity Best Places to Work and Employ Humanity Inspirational Leaders and this is a direct result of Julie's leadership."
When accepting the honor, Hess said that this is a shared recognition with the entire Master Spas team and that Master Spas is an awesome company to work for. "The leadership here is unlike any I've seen," said Hess.
Congratulations Julie Hess on being named the 2025 Employ Humanity HR Executive of the Year.
Previous Employ Humanity HR Executive of the Year recipients:
2024: Julie Fry, CHRO at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. (Madison, WI)
2023: Hillary Anderson, VP of HR at Werner Electric Supply (Appleton, WI)
2022: Cheryl Johnson, CHRO at Caterpillar Inc. (Irving, TX)
2021: Holly Lifke, CHRO/EVP at The Boldt Company (Appleton, WI)
2020: Judy Cascapera, Chief People Officer at Nestlé USA (Arlington, VA)