Kelly Scheib
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Director of leadership & organizational effectiveness; Hubbell Lighting
By Joe Nowlan
A native New Yorker now living in South Carolina, Kelly Scheib was introduced to the electrical industry after graduating from Penn State University. She accepted a position at a Hubbell Lighting manufacturing facility in Philadelphia.
“I started as their HR generalist,” Scheib explained. “Within nine months I was promoted to their HR manager position. I served as HR manager until moving here in late 2012.”
She was immediately taken with the industry and how it rewarded hard work and ambition with promotions. It is something she points out today to college graduates interviewing with her for a Hubbell position.
“If you are a tenacious individual who really cares to grow their career—and who actually takes their career into their own hands and can drive through it—this is an organization that will help you with that,” she explained. “This is the type of organization that will actually help guide your career and continue to progress you in a reasonably fast way.”
Scheib’s title at Hubbell’s Greenville, S.C., location is director of leadership & organizational effectiveness. While it is based in HR, it is far more than your typical HR role. She manages a great deal of the company’s training. Sometimes she conducts the training. Other times, she outsources it.
“Essentially what I do is an organizational development function. I manage all of the organizational development programs and training programs,” Scheib explained. “I also manage career pathing for our employees…[and] the development plans for the employees. I also manage succession planning for the business.”
Scheib also has to watch for, and try to anticipate, the training needs of the company.
“More than being the trainer, though, you’ll find me understanding the training needs of the business and then putting pieces to the puzzle,” Scheib explained. “I am the person who hears that we have a deficit in this area of this type of skill set. Or I may hear that our employees really need some finance training. So I better find out what exactly what they need and then put the pieces together.”
Just as training is ongoing throughout the electrical and lighting industries, Scheib must keep up with industry innovations.
“I always try to stay on top of what the business needs are,” she said. “I get a lot from the management team, just staying very closely in touch with our managers and the leadership team within Hubbell to make sure that I know what is coming down the pipe and what our employees are going to need.”
Scheib is enjoying living in the south. She and her husband, Steven, have three children: Lily (seven); Sydney (four); and Logan (one).
In her spare time, such as she has any with her family and schedule, Scheib volunteers with the Greenville Society of Human Resources Management.
“What we call GSHRM. I sit on a number of their committees and I lead up a couple of their committees. And I am also the treasurer-elect this year,” she said. “That’s probably the most volunteering I do. I also sit on one of the school boards at my daughter’s school.”
Q. What advice would you have for other young professionals in the electrical industry?
A. Stay current with your organization. I think tenacity and a drive for success is critical. There is a lot of competition out there and there has to be something that will make you stand out, make you someone that the organization is going to want. For me [that would be] my tireless effort and energy for this organization. And I can tell you at the same time that this organization has been very good to me.
Q. What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in this industry?
A. I would say it is that I have been given a lot of opportunities within this industry. There seems to be almost a bubble around this industry where they take care of their folks. They seem to care about their people. NAED has a women’s organization, has young professional awards and is constantly putting out information, pushing out articles. I get all of them. I can tell that there is just the strong connection with the people that work within the industry.
Joe Nowlan is a Boston-based freelance writer/editor and author. He can be reached at jcnowlan@msn.com.
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