Geri Mingura
This guest grew up in Clifton Arizona and holds a master's degree in business administration from WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. With more than 25 years experience in Human Resources, she is recognized for her ability to ability to develop people. Today, she serves as the Associate General Manager and Chief Human Resources Executive at Salt River Project, which is the nation's third largest public power utility. She celebrates 31 years of marriage, four children and six grandchildren, all of whom live in Arizona.
Episode Transcription
Guiding Growth. Conversations with Community Leaders. In this podcast we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals and modern moments. An event and meeting venue in the heart of Gilbert. Alright today we have a very special guest with us. This guest grew up in Clifton's Arizona and holds a master's degree in Business administration from W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University with more than 25 years experience in human resources.
She is recognized for her ability to develop people today she serves as the associate general manager and chief human resources executive at Salt River Project which is the nation's third largest public power utility. She celebrates 31 years of marriage, four Children and six grandchildren, all of whom live in Arizona. Please welcome jerry Mingora. Hey welcome, thank you. Thank you. Excited to have you here and now that I know we're talking about HR stuff. I got to be very very careful what I say today tend to get over the line sometimes so hold it back let's start with what we call rapid fire fill in the blank.
Happiness is the simple things in life. Love it. What is your hidden talent? That's a tough one. That's why I asked it so I'm pretty mechanically inclined and I used to actually work on vehicles. Okay. That's pretty cool but you just don't do that. Not anymore. But I do plan to buy probably a Camaro In the 113s and work on it awesome. Yeah. Alright. A concert. You will never forget journey. That would be amazing to see. Have you ever lived abroad? No, I have not. But I've traveled all around the world.
What is something people get wrong about you? I think some people are intimidated by me and they don't think I'm friendly, which I smile all the time and I am really a friendly person, but I think they might think I'm not as friendly as I am. What makes you hopeful the future? Are you more of a thinker or a doer? Both, but I'd say I do. I'm a doer. All right. This one's funny. Ready? Okay. If someone were to play you in a movie, who would you want that to be?
Wonder woman. Oh, that was quick. You knew that one. Okay, what's your favorite pastime or hobby? My favorite pastime is spending time in the White Mountains hiking. I love, I love being up their final question. What is one thing you're grateful for my family? This podcast is brought to you by Mercy Gilbert Medical Center recognized as one of the top 100 best hospitals by HealthGrades. Mercy Gilbert Medical Center is a full service acute care, not for profit community hospital providing exceptional health care to the East Valley with a staff of 13 employees and 400 volunteers, patients can expect the expertise of more than 900 physicians representing all major specialties.
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center is proud to be part of the local community and an award winning employer. Learn more at dignity health dot org forward slash Arizona. Alright, Clifton's Arizona. Let's go back. Take us to Clifton. Arizona. What is this like as a child? Wow, okay, now you're really making me go far back. Clinton. Arizona is a small little mining town. It was great. Everyone, it's, everyone knew everyone. Um, small town values. Uh, it was a great place to grow up. There's a river that runs through the town and just about most of the people.
And when I was in school we all played sports, it wasn't like here in the valley where you have to focus on one specific sport. I mean I played, gosh, softball, basketball, I ran track, there was just so much to do and the community was really close. Um, like I said, everyone took care of everyone and it was just a very tight knit community and it was a great place to grow up. You just felt like you could trust people there. Uh, we did a lot of outdoor things, you know, going to the river, um, hiking, horseback riding, It's just really a really nice small town. Yeah.
Did your parents had, had, they grown up there as well with their history there. So, um, my grandmother was actually born in Solomon which is about 30 minutes from Clinton in 1897 but then they migrated to New Mexico and then they came back. So my mother grew up there probably when she was 13 and then my father probably when he was in his teenage years as well. Yeah so I have lots of family there. I still actually have sisters who live their nieces, nephews and my actually my oldest son still lives there.
So now Arizona I'm trying to think geography because I don't know exactly know where this is. Is this up in the northern area? It's kind of in the middle of Eastern Arizona very close to the New Mexico border so it's right in the lower not not southern but right in the middle part. So it's temperatures are a lot like here or there a little cooler there, they're cooler. So higher the elevation is about 3500 and 4000. Yeah so they get snow on occasion, it's cooler, it's beautiful. So your son is still there.
Does that mean did you raise your kids there? No I raised my kids here but he actually my oldest son moved back and worked for and he's working for Freeport Mcmoran? Remember mining town. And so um yeah he moved back and he works there, he's a supervisor in the mine and I have my some of my grandchildren are there as well. Yeah. Okay so when you're in the world of HR so that's a people place, that's a lot of uh well you deal with a lot of things there. Right?
So you think back on your family, is there anybody like mom and dad or anything like that? You think that kind of influenced you in that way in the early years? Oh absolutely. I attribute a lot to my mother. She was very supportive, she was great with people. She would she was always helping volunteering, just always cared about humans and just treated everyone with respect. So I looked up to her um there was everyone knew her and she would always be there to help people. So I knew at early stage in my life that I wanted to work with people and I wanted to do something that would help people.
So I got that from I think my mom. Um but you haven't correct me if I'm wrong, but you haven't always been in the field of HR right? You sort of took a long a roundabout way to get to where you are today. Well, I started um I've been in HR for most of my career um when I graduated from college um back in Eastern Arizona an associate degree, I actually went into the school system. So I worked there for a while, but then and then I moved to casa grande and I worked for United Way of Panel County and then after that then moved to California for a bit and then came back to Arizona and that's when I started my HR profession and it was with Motorola long time ago.
Remember Motorola? Yeah. Yeah. So the majority of my career has been in human resources and other than your mom professionally, was there someone who sort of guided you along the way or inspired you even to make some shifts into different employers or career past there? Yeah, absolutely. I think when I was at Motorola I had a manager Rick Smith, he's actually in his late 80s and he lives in Texas. Um he really was a very strong advocate for women and um I was going for my bachelor's degree because I think I shared with you earlier, I didn't really go the traditional route of graduating from high school.
I went to community college but I always wanted to pursue my bachelor's degree. So. um he supported me, I went to um I got my my my bachelor's degree and then further down Motorola also sponsored me to receive my M. B. A. Through the executive program. Uh so Rick was the type of person that always said he was similar to my mother, you know jerry, you have so much potential, anything you want to do, just put your mind to it. And so he really supported me. I had another leader.
Henry l nick he actually lives in Scotland. He was my manager um probably about five years after rick and he was so supportive and basically said, look, you just have to be yourself because being a woman, sometimes it's difficult in the workplace, you know, you may not speak up or you may say something and someone says exactly the same thing you said a little differently and you're like, hey, I just said that and so Henry said, you know what, you just need to be yourself. He said you're talented and I see great things for you.
So I had these individuals in my life who really supported me and kind of pushed me and just pointed me in the right direction. So that was really helpful and then you shared with us a little bit about um some of the challenges that you overcame in traveling internationally, being a mom going to school. And so when you said, you know, wonder woman would play you, that's the nickname that you carried correct with your, your kids. Yes, especially my youngest son, he calls me, I looked at his phone and I'm like you called me but you have me, the icon is wonder woman, he said you're wonder woman mom.
But you know, a lot of women have probably had to the same challenges. I had, you know, I had four Children, I was working full time, I was traveling international and then um, I started my M B A program, so you know, I would go to work, come home and I was the traditional, have to make food for my kids and we'd have dinner together and get them ready for, you know, help them with their homework, get them ready for bed and then talk to my husband, make sure I spend time with him and probably about 10, 11 o'clock at night.
It's like, okay, now's my time, I got to work on my schoolwork. So very challenging. But you know, I think I mentioned as well that people would ask me, how do you do it? You know, how do four kids school work, travel, all of that? I said, you know, it's just like getting on a roller coaster, you just go for the ride and you get off when you're done and that's what I felt like, you know, that was kind of my journey and when I look back, I'm like, you know what?
It was worth the ride, it really was. But what is the switch that actually makes you get on the roller coaster? Right? Like there's something, there's something that, you know, intrinsically, or maybe somebody said something like what is an inspiration to take all of that on, because you could easily do three of the four. Right? Right. Yeah. I think part of it is the drive within myself that was one thing I always aspired to, to be a strong leader and to move up, you know, the career ladder and then my family, you know, I wanted I wanted to provide the best that I could for them and when I look back now, you know, and I always asked my kids when I was going to school, I used to tell them if I'm not spending enough time with you, you need to let me know.
And we had a roll around the dinner table that they could always let me know if they felt I wasn't spending enough time or giving them enough attention and um, and then even now I've asked them, you know, do you feel like I did the wrong thing because you reflect, especially as you get older and they're like, no mom, you have really motivated us and really been a role model for us that to see that, you know, if you put something in your mind, you can accomplish it.
So that makes me feel good because truly I did feel guilty sometimes because I'm like, am I not spending enough time with my family? So that's a lot of challenges that women have, you know, have had and continue to have? Yeah, you're right, if you had the opportunity to go back and tell yourself something, what would you say? Oh, that's a tough one, what would I say? Probably slow down, you know, life's a journey and enjoy your life. I think sometimes there's something that we're reaching for and we're just so in a hurry to get there and we forget to really appreciate and really, uh just take in life because I think we're all in such a hurry to get someplace and I'm sure that's a conversation that you have in your role today with so many of the employees that you lead.
Um and I think that's commonplace nowadays, especially for people to chase something. So um eagerly and rapidly rather than letting something unfold or evolve, right? And you know, it's one thing I've learned when I reflect back on my life is, you know, it just, you just have to experience things a lot of times people come in um and they're like, I want to do this, I want to, you know, how long is it going to take me to, you know, to get to this point? And it's like your life experiences, they set you up for wherever you're planning to be.
So just taking those experiences, you know, as much as possible, don't be rushing all the time and learn from it because you know, I think it's important for people to not always just be successful, but to kind of, you know, sometimes you have to fail or you have to learn lessons learn, you know, helps you just become a better person. So with your experience in human resources, what are some of the, what some of the evolution you've seen over the years? I've seen a lot of evolution because I started quite a while back, I like I said, I'm I'm almost close to 30 years in human resources, so I'm sure Motorola days are way different than Salt River days they are.
So when I first got into human resources, it was called personnel and so it was more around, you know, the rule maker policy enforcer and so that has changed dramatically for human resource professionals and I always try to help people understand about, you know, what human resources really is and human resources, I say this to my team and you know, we are in the people business, it's all about people without people, businesses would not be in business right? You could have a product, you can have a service but you need people so we really need to understand what our workforce, our people needs are and so it has evolved from just being the policy enforcer and H R in the HR profession, there's a few things that I think are really key.
You have to understand the business that is key. You know, if you don't understand the business that you're in then you're not able to develop workforce solutions, people solutions to help the business be successful. I think a lot of times people um you know, they they're very good in HR and that's excellent because we need experts in HR but you also need to understand the business because when you're developing solutions, if you don't underst truly understand the business needs and you're going to develop the wrong solutions, the other pieces HR has to work with the business.
So that has transitioned a lot right from the policy enforcer to understanding the business, pulling the business people into solutions, making certain you're listening to what it is that they need. Because a lot of times in the past I would CHr would come up with these programs and then kind of just roll them out and employees were saying what is this? This isn't what we asked for, this isn't what we need. So in at srp I make it really um it's a priority that business people participate in projects whenever we're putting programs together and then they give us feedback.
Yes, that's working. No, it's not because that's who are the consumers of our solutions, so. Yeah, so H. R. Has changed a lot and um I think it's in a very positive way. Yeah. And when you talk about things that employees need, what are some of those top priorities for employees now? Yeah. Since the pandemic a lot has changed, employee expectations have significantly changed one that comes to the top and I'm sure you've read and a lot of articles is flexibility, employees want flexibility. Um they want to make certain that, you know, a lot have reflected back on work and what's important to them and flexibility definitely, you know, rises to the top.
Another one is competitive pay. They want to be paid competitively, they want to have really great benefits for themselves and their families. So those are just a few of the things that have, have surfaced, and I'm sure flexibility when you're providing a utility is a challenge because you have to be very consistent in your service. Right? Absolutely. Yeah, that is true. And at srp, you know, we have our field employees who they've never left the field during the pandemic. They had to be there, right, We need electricity, we need water.
So they were out there and we truly appreciated all their efforts and then you have are, you know, more office professional services, uh individuals and they were able to work from home. Um So, but we are, we do have a hybrid workforce workplace now. So our office people, you know, they can still work from home, but they do come into the office, but our field employees, they do work on site all the time. Well, one of my observations specifically about srp is the way in which the company engages employees back out into the community.
Uh I'm not sure that I know any other organization that does it as effectively. Um and just the level of involvement and encouragement of people of your employees to get back out serving the communities in which they live. Um we have such high engagement through our programs with so many individuals who represent Srp and it's, it is really an incredible thing to watch. That's great to hear because we, I mean, our community, our customers, there are priority, that's number one. And so and our employees, they love being in the community and supporting the community.
You see it like you said with your organization and just across the valley, so srp is very proud. Our employees are very proud to be part of the community and supported in any way they can. So that's great to hear. Alright, so you already mentioned that the future may include a Camaro of some kind. What else is on your horizon? What's next? Oh, what's next? You know, I um traveling, I we actually um are planning to go to europe, this um this next summer, so that's in the future, you know, now working at srp when I was at on semi, that was my prior company, I traveled the world, I mean I was in Asia and europe and you name it, I was all over and I really miss that, I miss being able to go and experience different cultures and different people and foods and I really want to take my husband.
My husband never traveled with me when I traveled international, so definitely traveling is in the future for me as well as a Camaro. That's awesome. Great. And as far as the career goes, as far as the HR world, do you see anything coming around the corner? That's that's that's that's the next wave of this evolution might look like for the industry. Yeah, so that that's a really good question um the industry continues to evolve with the HR professionals you know and you think about the trends like what's coming up a lot of what we see not only in HR but is like digitalization data analytics.
So I C. H. R. And we've already started uh to do this is hiring people with data analytics uh expertise because you know when you can put data together that definitely helps your business case and so we see a lot of you know digitalization data analytics and artificial intelligence that's going to start coming into HR Yeah I'm excited. They've actually started working with artificial intelligence like bots responding to you know like candidates we have in ourselves but other companies that their HR organization has started doing that and then um they do a lot of data screening so that employees aren't having to manually go and audit processes.
The computer actually does it for you. So a lot of automation I guess is what I'm saying. I can see that the HR organization integrating that type of processes and automation into their work. Yeah well this has been an incredible conversation. Thank you for sharing with us and thank you for your sharing your journey with us. Um It's been great getting to know you and your journey and just the time today. Thank you you're very welcome and thank you for having me here. It's been a pleasure.
Yes indeed. So I know you enjoyed this conversation because we certainly did. And if you want more of these, please subscribe to our tribe so you can get these in your inbox and listen to more. Thank you for being with us today, guiding growth conversations with community leaders, Ben, let me ask you a question. How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast? This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us.
So I think there's many opportunities at hand whether you want to again be on the show, reach out to us, let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it. We'd love to hear from you, reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection
