PSHRA Awards Program
PSHRA is home to HR professionals who have given tirelessly to the advancement of our profession. We recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our members and the work they do on behalf of their agencies.
We offer the following awards:
- Agency Award of Excellence
- Honorary Life Membership
- Chapter Award
Please review the awards’ descriptions and rules. Nominations are reviewed by the Awards committee and a slate of recommendations is forwarded to the Executive Council to be voted on. PSHRA will recognize the winners during the PSHRA Annual Conference.
Next year's awards applications will be available in 2025.
If you have questions, please contact us at meetings@pshra.org.
Excellence in Public Sector HR
PSHRA recognizes the accomplishments of its individual and agency members, chapters, and volunteers with its annual Awards of Excellence.
Awards celebrate the achievements exemplary leaders and advocates whose contributions have advanced public sector HR. Awardees have created better places to work for those who serve the public good.
President’s Award
The President’s Award recognizes the current PSHRA® president for leadership of the association and in the field of public sector HR.
The 2024 President’s Award was presented to Mark Van Bruggen, IPMA-SCP. Van Bruggen is the HR consultant to the chief of staff at the New Jersey Civil Service Commission (NJ SCS).
Mark has spent his entire professional career of more than 35 years working for the NJ CSC. In 1996, Mark became a member of PSHRA® when he and several colleagues re-chartered the New Jersey chapter. He has served the association in numerous leadership positions at the chapter, regional and national level.
Van Bruggen is recognized with the 2024 PSHRA® President's Award for his commitment and dedication in leading the association and its mission.
Honorary Life Membership Award
Honorary Life Memberships are to recognize and honor persons who have rendered distinguished service in advancing or upholding the purposes of the Association.
The 2024 Honorary Life Membership Award was presented to Dr. Jennifer Fairweather, chief human resources officer with Jefferson County in Golden, Colo.
Jennifer has served at every level of PSHRA®, from chapter president in Colorado, to the Western Region President and President of PSHRA® International. Jennifer has also assisted with both the HR2020 report and the recent branding and strategic objectives of PSHRA®.
Agency of Excellence Award
The Agency Award of Excellence recognizes the quality, accomplishments, and contributions of an outstanding agency human resource program. Annual awards may be made in any of three categories based on agency workforce size.
Small Agency Award
The Small Agency Award may be presented to an agency of up to 1,999 employees.
The 2024 Small Agency Award was awarded to The City of Kerrville, Texas. In 2024, the City of Kerrville implemented “Raising the Employee Engagement Stakes,” a very unique employee engagement initiative utilizing department-specific poker chips as rewards for the agency’s 339 full-time employees. Team members earn poker chips for outstanding performance, teamwork or achieving goals, and can redeem their chips for prizes of their choosing, ranging from tangible rewards like gift cards or gadgets to experiential incentives such as extra vacation days or team outings.
Past Small Agency Award Winners:
- 2023 | City of Port St. Lucie, Florida
- 2022 | City of Tamarac, Florida
- 2021 | No award
- 2020 | City of Rancho Cucamonga, California
- 2019 | City of Cape Coral, Florida
Medium Agency Award
The Medium Agency Award may be presented to an agency of 2,000 to 9,999 employees.
Johnson County Government in Olathe, Ks. received the 2024 Medium Agency Award. The cornerstone of Johnson County’s inclusion initiatives is the VIBE (Voices of Inclusion, Belonging, and Equity) program. VIBE represents a strategic effort to foster a workplace culture that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB). All
Johnson County DEIB initiatives reside within the VIBE umbrella. Some of these include multi-modal DEIB training, an annual Juneteenth Community Celebration and the agency’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coalition.
Past Medium Agency Award Winners:
- 2023 | No award
- 2022 | Wake County, North Carolina
- 2021 | No award
- 2020 | City of Newport News, Virginia
- 2019 | City of Henderson, Nevada
Large Agency Award
The Large Agency Award may be presented to an agency of 10,000 employees or more. This year two agencies were awarded.
The 2024 recipient of the Large Agency Award is the City of Houston, Texas. With more than 22,000 employees, the City of Houston has recently kicked off a number of transformational initiatives, such as its Prenatal, Parental and Infant Wellness Leave program, which offers eligible City employees a number of benefits such as paid prenatal leave for prenatal wellness healthcare appointments and other absences related to the pregnancy.
Past Large Agency Award Winners:
- 2023 | City of San Antonio, TX and County of San Diego, CA
- 2022 | No award
- 2021 | No award
- 2020 | No award
- 2019 | Louisiana Department of State Civil Service
Chapter Award of Excellence
The Chapter Award of Excellence recognizes a chapter that has significantly advanced and enhanced the public sector HR profession through innovative membership recruitment/retention strategies, excellent educational programs, and quality member communication.
The 2024 recipient is PSHRA® North Carolina, which includes 50 national PSHRA® members. The chapter has created a number of mutually beneficial strategic partnerships across the state, such as the North Carolina for Military Employment (NC4ME) initiative, which offers free direct hire services to local government entities utilizing retiring veterans.
Past PSHRA Chapter Winners:
- 2023 | Nevada Chapter
- 2022 | Colorado Chapter
- 2021 | Patuxent River Basin Chapter
- 2020 | No award
- 2019 | Sacramento--Mother Lode Chapter
Past Awards
Warner W. Stockberger Achievement Award
The Stockberger Achievement Award was established to honor the memory of Dr. Warner W. Stockberger, a pioneer and leader in federal personnel administration. Stockberger was the first director of personnel for the for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and served as the first president of the Society for Personnel Administration. The award recognizes and honors a person in public or private life who has made an outstanding contribution toward the improvement of public personnel management at any level of government.
PSHRA Honorary Life Membership
Honorary Life Memberships are given to recognize and honor persons who have rendered distinguished service in advancing or upholding the purposes of the Association. Honorary Life Members have, at no fee, all the rights and privileges of individual members, including the right to hold Association office and to vote on all issues requiring a decision by the membership. No more than two people can be awarded the PSHRA Honorary Life Membership in one year.