Stephen Fields: From Department Stores to Public Service

For Stephen Fields, it was a summer job in high school that got him started toward a career in public service.

“My story dates to my teenage years, when I first started employment with my local recreation department,” says Fields, town manager and director of human resources with the Town of Hermon, Maine.

“Over the next few summers, I progressed into a seasonal supervisor role that gave me insight on coaching, mentoring and assisting staff.”

He didn’t realize it at the time, but that summer gig wound up serving as his introduction to human resource management. It would be 15 years, however, before he joined the ranks of public sector HR professionals.

In 1999, Fields earned his master’s degree in human resource management, while working in the private sector as a human resources manager at Filene’s Basement, a Dedham, Mass.-based department store.

In September 2000, Fields “encountered the ultimate layoff experience, which allowed me to transition my newly earned expertise into the public sector.”

The same month, Fields took on his first government role, as a human resources generalist with the Town of Andover in Massachusetts, where his HR director “was awesome, and provided me with great mentorship,” he says now.

Since then, the bulk of Fields’ professional experience has been in public sector HR, with stops including a school district in New Hampshire, and roles in city government and the state attorney general’s office in Maine before joining the Town of Hermon in December 2024.

A PSHRA member since 2018, Fields credits the organization with supporting his professional development with certification and webinars, newsletters and daily emails, for example.

His experience as a panelist and presenter for PSHRA webinars has also “increased my confidence in being a presenter and sharing our career professional expertise in other organizations outside of PSHRA.”

Looking ahead, Fields’ goals include continuing to mentor the next generation of public servants, much like his very first public sector supervisor with the Town of Andover did for him more than 25 years ago.

“This experience made me determined to stay in the public sector HR profession, with my personal values of integrity, accountability, mentorship and empowerment,” he says. “Now, I pay it forward to all my staff and peers [by encouraging them to] stay in the public sector.”