Ellen Christman currently serves as Vice President, Membership Engagement and Experience for the CHRO Association, providing our members with an exclusive community of trust and expertise to connect and grow
Prior to her work with the CHRO Association, Ellen led Philanthropy for the SHRM Foundation, the nonprofit arm of SHRM, the world’s largest professional society for HR with 340,000 members across the globe serving 362 million workers and their families. Ellen was instrumental in advancing the SHRM Foundation’s mission to elevate and empower HR as a force for social good in the workplace. Under her leadership over six years, revenue increased significantly. This accelerated the Foundation’s visibility and impact with Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, and independent foundations. In addition, Ellen dramatically diversified its revenue through a dynamic approach to securing corporate, federal and state, individual and foundation funding streams.
Ellen is a visionary leader in curating high impact events that inspire innovation and drive workplace transformation. She is passionate about finding true alignment between philanthropists, thought leaders, politicos, and executives, and connecting their interests to action for the most pressing needs of our time. Ellen has led content development, speaker recruitment, and programming for SHRM’s premier gatherings, including the Workplace Mental Health & Wellness Summit (2021), the Visionaries Summit (2022), the ESG Roundtable (2023), and the Business Summit (2024). Through her leadership, these events have become powerful and elite platforms for C-suite executives and luminaries to collaborate, share insights, celebrate excellence, and accelerate positive change in the workplace. Notably, Ellen has championed the annual Tharseo Awards from 2021 to 2024, an elegant black-tie fundraising event, that honors workplace leaders and highlights the critical role of HR in driving positive change through showcasing a CEO of the Year, a Policy Transformer of the Year and their intersection with Chief Human Resource Officers. Through her strategic vision and steadfast commitment, Ellen has helped position the SHRM Foundation as a leader in empowering HR professionals to build inclusive and diverse workplaces.
Prior to her role at SHRM Foundation, Ellen provided strategic counsel to a national youth mentoring organization, MENTOR, co-founded by philanthropists Ray Chambers and Geoff Boisi, among other philanthropic clients. Her work included founding and establishing the MENTOR Illinois partnership and MENTOR Newark, NJ and raising multi-million-dollar funding for the national organization, along with its affiliates. Ellen also played a key role in creating the first-ever National Mentoring Summit in 2011, where she secured the First Lady of the United States as the keynote speaker, and brought five of the U.S. President’s Cabinet Secretaries to the stage to speak about the power of mentoring. In addition, Ellen has raised tens of millions of dollars for nonprofit organizations supporting veterans, the homeless, and hunger related causes.
Ellen is an accomplished leader in fundraising, communications and non-profit strategy, with a career that began at the National Restaurant Association’s Foundation. During her nine years there she transformed donor relations, marketing and communications driving significant growth through holistic and integrated partnerships with corporations like The Coca-Cola Company, Marriott, Disney, and other Fortune 100 and 500 donors. In addition, Ellen secured the organization’s first multi-million government grants and was a liaison between the National Restaurant Association’s Washington, DC office and its Chicago office.
Ellen’s passion for philanthropy and service extends beyond professional pursuits, with active involvement on boards and committees for organizations like Mercury Public Affairs where she sits on their Advisory Board; Kent School in Kent, CT; Far Hills Country Day School in Far Hills, NJ; Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago in Chicago, IL: IL Mentoring Partnership in Chicago, IL; and the Visiting Nurses Association of Somerset County, NJ.
A graduate of Boston College, Ellen holds memberships in professional organizations including the American Society of Association Executives and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Ellen resides in Bedminster, NJ with her husband and two sons
