Laurie Ruettimann

Laurie Ruettimann is a former human resources leader turned writer, speaker, and entrepreneur known for her commonsense style and straightforward approach to workforce issues.

Laurie’s career began in 1995 as an HR assistant for Leaf Candy Company, providing operations assistance and recruiting services for an hourly workforce in a manufacturing environment that was heavily unionized and staffed with immigrants from war-torn Bosnia. Since those glorious days, she’s worked at Monsanto, Alberto-Culver (now Unilever), Kemper Insurance (out of business), and Pfizer. Even as her title and compensation grew, she hated her job.

Laurie began blogging in 2004 on a nascent platform called BlogSpot while working at Pfizer, telling stories that would likely get her fired had she been discovered. After laying off thousands of workers and watching her husband lose his job at the same company, she exited corporate America in 2007 to focus her time and attention on writing, speaking, and advising companies on how to make HR better.

Laurie has been featured on major American media platforms such as NPR, The New Yorker, Vox, and CNN. She is the creator of The Cynical Girl and Punk Rock HR, which Forbes named as one of its top 100 websites for women. She was a contributing editor for The Conference Board Review and a contributor to online ventures such as Mediabistro, AOL, and BusinessInsider.com. Her advice has been featured in a variety of publications including CIO Magazine, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Inc., Men’s Health, Real Simple, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. CareerBuilder and CNN have recognized her as one of the top five career advisors in the United States.

Laurie keynotes events all around the world. She’s appeared onstage at the 92nd Street Y and Harvard Business School, founded GlitchPath, an early-stage start-up focused on project management, and started a new podcast in April 2018 called “Let’s Fix Work.”