Karen Greene
Vice President Global Human Resources
Escalon Services
Episode 227
Mastering Rapid Change: HR's Proactive Guide to Private Equity Success
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleApril 17, 2025 · 19:31
Thesis
“HR in fast-paced, PE-backed organizations thrives by proactively building scalable people programs, embracing rapid change, and strategically integrating technology like AI, while also fostering a culture of resilience and continuous upskilling.”
Show notes
A recent Ernst & Young survey found that 65% of employees report feeling anxious about AI — about both job security and diminished compensation. In PE-backed organizations operating at breakneck pace, that anxiety doesn't stay abstract. It shows up in productivity, collaboration, and attrition. Karen Greene, VP of Global HR at Escalon Services, has built a career navigating exactly this kind of environment.
Karen's experience spans multiple PE-backed growth companies — environments where, as she notes, there are no long pilot programs or longitudinal R&D projects. The entire leadership team makes decisions fast, iterates quickly, and runs on a compressed timeline. For HR, that means building scalable people infrastructure from scratch while simultaneously managing aggressive change. Her M&A work has been particularly clarifying: cultural fit assessment is not a nice-to-have in integration planning — it's the reason most integrations fail. She now approaches M&A due diligence with culture at the center, evaluating organizational dynamics with the same rigor applied to financial and legal review.
On AI, her approach is pragmatic rather than evangelical: address fear directly through education and transparent governance, create specific use cases employees can understand and experiment with, and communicate clearly that the goal is enhancement, not replacement. She's watched organizations lose months to avoidance. The ones that move forward start by finding their early adopters and letting them show what's possible.
- Building HR infrastructure in PE-backed environments — why speed and scalability must be designed together from day one
- M&A cultural due diligence — how HR should come to the table in acquisition planning, not just integration execution
- Managing AI anxiety in the workforce — governance, communication, and use cases that move employees from fear to fluency
- Proactive workforce planning — anticipating skill shortages and labor costs before they become crises in high-growth environments
- Resilience as a team design principle — how Karen builds HR teams that can navigate exits, reorgs, and constant organizational change
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What you'll take away
- 1In PE-backed organizations, HR must balance multiple high-priority initiatives, focusing on rapid value creation and change readiness.
- 2Proactive workforce planning, including anticipating skill shortages and managing labor costs, is crucial for HR in growth environments.
- 3HR plays a vital role in M&A by evaluating cultural fit, which is a primary reason integration efforts fail.
- 4Addressing employee fear and resistance to AI requires clear governance, policy, use case communication, and training to shift mindsets from replacement to enhancement.
- 5Effective HR leaders in PE-backed firms build highly capable and resilient teams, share information transparently, and proactively align HR strategy with rapid business changes.
What most organizations get wrong
In Karen's words
“Unlike large organizations, there's no long pilot programs or longitudinal R&D work. Your entire leadership team and everybody around you has a single goal to maximize and scale.”
This highlights the aggressive, results-oriented pace unique to PE-backed environments compared to traditional corporations.
“Lastly, if you are going to be involved in any level of M&A work, it's about how does HR come to the table in partnership evaluating cultural fit of the M&A targets, because we know that cultural fit is the number one reason that integration work fails.”
This emphasizes HR's critical, proactive role in M&A success, beyond just administrative tasks, by focusing on cultural alignment.
“Everybody will come together with their thoughts and ideas. They'll debate them and come to agreement without losing respect for each other or succumbing to power plays.”
This provides a clear definition of positive conflict within a C-suite, essential for fostering high-performing teams.
“In fact, a recent survey by Ernst Young indicated that about 65% of employees say they're anxious. It's two things. It's, will AI replace me or my job, or will it have a negative impact on the pay because my skillset is no longer unique?”
This quantifies employee anxiety around AI and precisely identifies the core fears HR leaders must address.
“First, find those opportunities to lean in to solve business problems. When you get busy, our nature is, ooh, I should think that's not my job, that's not in my lane, that's somebody else's concern. And I guarantee you that every business problem or key initiative that's going on in your company is touching your people.”
This is a strong call for HR professionals to proactively engage in broader business challenges, highlighting their unique and vital perspective.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Lack of inherent structure in growing PE-backed organizations, requiring HR to build foundational processes for scalability.
- •Rapid pace of change and aggressive decision-making in PE environments, demanding quick adaptation and high-impact HR initiatives.
- •Cultural integration failures in M&A transactions due to insufficient assessment and planning of cultural fit.
- •Widespread employee anxiety and resistance to AI driven by fears of job displacement or diminished pay.
- •Underinvestment in HR technology and infrastructure in lower to middle market companies, hindering data-driven decisions and scalability.
- •Maintaining a high-performing C-suite team through multiple PE exits where personnel changes are a common challenge.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Karen: Dave is the Global VP of HR at Escalon Services
Introducing Dave Escalon
How does HR role differ in PE-backed organizations compared to traditional Fortune 500
PE-Backed Organizations: How HR Functions Change
HR leaders face unique challenges working in lower to middle market PE-backed transactions
HR Challenges in Lower to Middle Market PE-backed Companies
Technology and infrastructure to scale are key issues in PE environments
Support the C-suite: The role of HR professionals
HR leaders must address fear and resistance from employees while ensuring proper AI adoption
How to Address Employee Fear of AI
Help employees understand AI's value proposition without feeling threatened about job security
How to Help Employees Understand AI's Value
Leading HR in a PE-backed organization is different from a traditional corporate environment
Leading HR in a PE-backed Organization
Karen, what parting advice would you like to share with our audience
Karen Hewitt on Built by People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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