Renee Frieda City of San Antonio Director of Human Resources
Renee Frieda is the Human Resources Director for the City of San Antonio. Renee has over 27 years of experience in Human Resources and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management. Renee began her career with the City in 2006 and has served in a variety of Human Resources roles. Prior to joining the City, Renee served as the Director of Human Resources for Crane Plumbing, a unionized manufacturer of vitreous china bathroom fixtures.
Immediate Past President
Passion Hayes, SPHR, SHRM-SCP Town of Addison Director of Human Resources
Passion Hayes is the Director of Human Resources for the Town of Addison. Prior to joining Addison in 2008, Passion worked for other local government organizations including the City of Fort Worth, City of Denton and Denton County.
While she oversees all people related functions at the Town of Addison, including Employee Relations, Benefits Administration, and Recruitment; she has spent the majority of her career focusing on training and development. She developed and implemented Addison’s first onboarding program and their first organizational training program focusing on soft skill development.
Passion holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Public Administration. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources Management through IPMA-HR, Human Resources Certification Institute and the Society of Human Resources Management.
Passion has presented at numerous conferences including HR Southwest on Business Acumen in HR Management (2017) and Succession Planning (2016).
Passion received the 2017 Human Resources Professional of the Year from the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce and was a nominee for the 2015 Texas Municipal Human Resources Professional of the Year.
Passion is married and has a son.
Vice President/President-Elect
Christina Flores, MBA City of McAllen Human Resources Director
Christina Flores, a native of the Rio Grande Valley, has eight years of experience in the field of human resources with a broad range of expertise in the field, including safety/risk management; worker’s compensation; employee benefits and civil service. She has served as Director of Human Resources for the City of McAllen for three years. Most recently, she launched a City-wide mentoring program aimed at improving employee retention, improving key skills and increasing employee satisfaction. Additionally, she has been a key organizer of an Annual International Women’s Day Symposium for the City of McAllen which has included a panel presentation of key, female, community leaders, a Shadow Day with female students from South Texas Community College and a Speed Mentoring event for female City of McAllen employees.
Prior to the City of McAllen, Christina served as Director of Human Resources and Civil Service for the City of Edinburg for two years. Some key accomplishments while there included launching an online applicant tracking system and electronic procedures for various aspects of employee benefits. Additionally, she was instrumental in executing the city’s newly established civil service program within the city’s fire department.
Prior to Edinburg, Christina was the Assistant Human Resources Director for the City of Brownsville for three years. There, she was instrumental in instituting an online employee training program through the Texas Municipal League at no cost to the city. She also assisted in carrying out the vision of the Youth Ambassador program by matching various departments with at-risk high school juniors and seniors and then-University of Texas at Brownsville for a summer internship program.
She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Christina is the newly elected chairperson for the Rio Grande Valley Human Resources Consortium and member of the following associations: TMHRA (Texas Municipal Human Resources Association), both Texas and Local SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management), IPMA-HR and IPMA-HR Texas Chapter. She is excited about the opportunity to serve on the board of IPMA-HR Texas Chapter.
Secretary/Treasurer
Rachel Dominguez, PHR, SHRM-CP Lubbock County Human Resources Manager
Rachel is the Human Resources Manager for Lubbock County. Rachel has worked in Human Resources for sixteen years in the public and private sectors. Before joining Lubbock County, Rachel was the Assistant Director of Human Resources for the City of Lubbock. Rachel serves on the Lubbock Society for Human Resource Management (LSHRM) board as the Certification Chair and has served in past roles as the Legislative Chair, President-Elect, President, and Past-President. Rachel has a BBA and MBA from Eastern New Mexico University and is PHR and SHRM-CP certified. Rachel has a passion for her community and serving the public.
Past President
Greg George, PHR Lubbock County HR Director
Greg George is a Human Resource professional with 23 years of experience in the private and public sectors. Since 2008 he has held the position of Director of Human Resources for Lubbock County which includes 41 departments and over 1,355employees. Prior to working with Lubbock County, Greg was the V.P. of Human Resources for a foodservice sales and distribution company. Greg earned his Professional Human Resources certification in 2002. He served on the Board of Lubbock’s Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) chapter for seven years, receiving the Chapter’s Human Resource Professional of the Year Award in 2007. He joined the IMPA-HR Texas Chapter Board in 2015. Greg is an active mentor in the Student Chapter of SHRM at Texas Tech University, his alma mater.
Board Member
Valerie Francois, IPMA-SCP, PHR City of Round Rock HR Director
Valerie LaCour Francois has been in the public sector for over twenty-five years. Valerie is a graduate of Louisiana State University and received her Master of Public Administration from Southwest Texas State University now Texas State University in 2004. Valerie started in state government as a HR Assistant with the Texas Attorney General’s Office in Austin, Texas. During her tenure with the Attorney General’s Office, Valerie worked in all areas of Human Resources and was promoted to Manager of the Compensation and Benefits division prior to coming to the City of Austin in 1999. Valerie spent twelve and a half years with the City of Austin. She worked in Human Resources in the Employee Relations Division. She served as the HR Manager in two city departments; Community Care Services (2 years) and Solid Waste Services now Austin Resource Recovery (4 years). Valerie returned to the Human Resources Department in 2010 to lead the Quality Assurance Division and served in that role for 2 years. Valerie began her career with the City of Round Rock in 2012 where she serves as the Director of Human Resources and Civil Service. Valerie is married and has 1 son.
Ms. Francois is certified as an International Public Management Association-Senior Certified Professional (IPMA-SCP) and Professional in Human Resource Management (PHR) from the Human Resources Certification Institute.
Board Member
LaShon Gros Director, Human Resources & Civil Service City of Taylor, Texas
LaShon Gros is the Director of Human Resources and Civil Service for the City of Taylor. She began this role in January 2021. Her focus is on recruiting and retaining talented employees, increasing employee engagement, and making a positive impact in the organizational culture. LaShon began her career in municipal human resources with the City of Killeen where she served 5 years. Her duties included employee relations matters, managing the recruitment cycle, overseeing the hiring and promotion processes for Civil Service, and assisting with training. LaShon discovered her love for human resources while serving in the United States Army. LaShon retired from the army after 20 years of service in 2016. LaShon has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, a Master of Human Resources Management, and a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership. She is also a Society of Human Resources Certified Professional (SHRM-CP). LaShon loves spending time with her family, watching movies, and traveling.
Board Member
Errol Hardin, MA, SPHR Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Employee Relations Manager
Errol has worked in public sector Human Resources for 21 years including the City of Austin, Travis County and currently as the Employee Relations Manager of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and is the former Chair of the Texas State Human Resources Association (TSHRA). Prior to joining the public sector, Errol was the Human Resources Development Manager with Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector.
Corporate Advisor
Jay Nwamadi Cigna Vice President – Government and Education Segment – Texas, Oklahoma & Louisiana
Jay Nwamadi currently serves as the Vice President for Government and Education Segment, Texas, Oklahoma & Louisiana. In this role, he is responsible for deploying the focus and resources needed to support the unique needs of the public sector. He works with the local account teams throughout to ensure that Cigna is delivering differentiated value-added solutions to address the challenges this segment faces on a daily basis.
In addition, Jay is involved with local associations such as ICMA, Texas PRIMA, NFBPA, and University Risk Managers Association to stay connected with the challenges and opportunities of the government and education segment.
Prior to this role, Jay was a Vice President with Sallie Mae Insurance Services, where he had overall sales, strategy, and account management responsibility for the public sector. He also held leadership positions with JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
Jay’s passion is connecting disadvantaged youth to educational opportunities. Jay is an active member of The Texas Youth Scholarship Organization, Cedar Valley College Management Advisory Committee, and serves on the scholarship and advisory board of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dallas.
Jay earned his Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Applied Technology from the University of North Texas and Master of Business Administration from Baylor University.
Cheryl D. Orr retired from Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), as the Vice President of Human Capital where she was responsible for the Human Resources’ functions. Almost immediately she started an HR consulting business, called Insight HR Partners. She has spent over 30 years working in the field of Human Resources as an Assistant Director and Director. She has held HR Executive positions working for a small business, in a University setting and several HR executive positions in local governments. Ms. Orr taught Personnel Practices at Virginia Tech for several years. After relocating to Dallas from Virginia, she was hired by the City of Dallas to establish their Ethics and Diversity & Inclusion programs. Ms. Orr is a prolific trainer, facilitator and consultant on a variety of workplace subjects and issues. She earned a BA in Psychology, as well as a Master of Social Work (MSW) both from Rutgers University in New Jersey. She also holds a Certificate in Organizational Development from Georgetown University, and is currently a Doctorate student in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Southern Methodist University.
President/
Immediate Past President
Vice President/President-Elect
Secretary/Treasurer
Past President
Board Member
Board Member
Board Member
Corporate Advisor
Corporate Advisor