Dave Fink
Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer, CAES
For Dave Fink, his biggest recent achievement was creating a companywide “early career” team to identify and recommend actions to enhance culture and increase retention.
“We revamped the CAES high potential program, assigning high potentials a company ‘problem’ to work through and gave them the opportunity to recommend solutions to senior leadership,” he said. “Lastly, we have accelerated the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion activities, including creating two employee resource groups.”
Why Watch
In 2023, Fink’s team is closely evaluating the skills and roles of frontline leaders to make sure they’re well-suited for their jobs and are trained properly. This helps CAES attract and keep good employees. As a result, some leaders have moved to roles that better fit their skills, a few promising leaders have quickly moved up, and there is now a clear idea of what key skills are needed.
“Don’t expect to grow by staying in one place,” Fink said. “Growth occurs when you move out of your comfort zone to another function, geography, company — anywhere that makes you rely on more than yourself. Nothing prepares you better.”
Mike Kahn, CAES president and CEO, said Fink has introduced creative benefits at CAES, helping the company become an employer of choice in the industry.
“Dave is a thoughtful and exceptional leader, enabling numerous initiatives that enhance two-way communication and employee engagement, and drive positive changes across the company,” Kahn said.