Shocking revelation about SHRM

I read in a LinkedIn post that the President and CEO of SHRM is not an HR professional, but a finance professional (a CPA). I found that hard to believe, so I looked it up myself and it is true.

SHRM's website says, "Henry G. (Hank) Jackson is the president and CEO for the Society for Human Resources Management.... Hank came to SHRM from Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he was executive vice president/chief financial officer and treasurer of the university." WOW! I don't have words. I am in shock. Here is a link to the information on SHRM's website:

SHRM Board of Directors Page

Human Resources professionals: what are your thoughts on this? Share your comments. I would love your feedback.

Comment by Steve Levy on February 19, 2015 at 2:39pm: Doesn't bother me at all. Of course there are some in the audience who are spouting, "See? SEE?!?! The dumbarses can't even find an HR pro who can run a company! HA! I rest my case."

It might be an association but it's also a business.

We should be more worried why so many heads of HR still believe that CpH is a valid and generalizable recruiting metric.

Comment by Kelly Blokdijk on February 19, 2015 at 10:25pm: Not shocking. Pretty sure his background information was provided (announced) when he joined the organization.

Whether or not he has a background in HR isn't as much of an issue as whether or not he understands HR's purpose from a business perspective.

Also, agree w/ SL about why so many heads of HR seemingly have empty heads and focus on irrelevant metrics and other (HR) reputation damaging actions or in-actions.

Comment by Linda Ferrante on February 24, 2015 at 11:34am: His position requires one of a business expertise, not that of HR. SHRM is also a business and needs to be run as such. As long as he is not pretending to be an HR expert, we're good. It's when all those business types pretend to know all about recruiting that we have problems. :)