CIRI shareholder April Kyle received a Top 40 Under 40 award from the Alaska Journal of Commerce. A committee selected the 2013 winners from more than 140 individuals and 200 submissions.
Growing up in Eagle River with summers spent in Ninilchik, Kyle is of Athabascan descent and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Montana State University with the support of The CIRI Foundation’s educational scholarships and grants. At age 25, she joined Southcentral Foundation as the organization’s employment and recruitment manager. As the organization grew, April grew with it. At 28 years old, Kyle accepted the employment and recruitment administrator position; two years later, Kyle became a senior administrator within the organization of 1,400 employees. By age 32, she was leading the human resources department as its director for which she has served the past three years.
As Southcentral Foundation’s Human Resources Director, Kyle oversees 24 employees directly contributing to SCF’s ability to attract and retain “best fit” employees for SCF’s unique and innovative Nuka System of Care model. The model is focused on developing relationships that support customer-owners on their journeys to reach their health goals.
Kyle has been actively involved in changing the way interviews are conducted and the competencies valued during the hiring process. The changes and improvements correlate to how Southcentral Foundation hires, trains, promotes and rewards differently than other health care organizations. As a result, SCF attracts and retains a workforce that fits into the organizational culture while continuously building SCF’s workforce capability.
Kyle was nominated by her colleagues for her championship of many initiatives. Among these are Kyle’s efforts to help develop and implement family-friendly benefits, including an on-site childcare/early learning facility serving infants to preschoolers of full- and part-time employees. Kyle’s passion for family and her own three boys are a catalyst for creating a family friendly work and life balance approach to workforce development at Southcentral Foundation.
As Southcentral Foundation is increasingly looked to by other health care systems as a model for best practices and innovation, Kyle shares her experiences in workforce development at various conferences all over the world including being the youngest presenter at a five-day conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.
