Parsons Corp. has promoted Soo Lagasse to chief human resources officer, effective April 1, succeeding Susan Balaguer, who’s retiring this spring after nearly five years with the company.
“I’m honored to be named chief human resources officer, and to continue to serve at Parsons alongside some of the finest human resources professionals in industry,” Lagasse said. “Parsons is truly a People First company, and I’m humbled by the opportunity to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to prioritize our people and to build programming that drives the continued success of our mission-driven workforce.”
Parsons Chair, President and CEO Carey Smith credited Balaguer with transforming the company’s HR enterprise over four and a half years, saying her “focus on a positive employee experience moved Parsons forward” through benefits alignment, leadership development and record recruiting results. Smith called Lagasse “a proven business executive with a track record of transforming talent functions into strategic business partners” and said she was central to the company’s hiring momentum in her talent acquisition role.
Lagasse joined Parsons in 2021 with over three decades of experience in the government contracting industry. She led an overhaul of the global talent acquisition enterprise that produced multiple record hiring quarters, expanded university and intern programs, and implemented technologies supporting data-driven workforce planning.
Prior to Parsons, Lagasse held global talent acquisition and HR roles at multiple publicly traded companies.