Kiabi D. Carson

I’m responsible for setting the HR strategy and accountable for all functions within HR across the United States and Canada. Appointed as a Partner in 2018, my clients are internal stakeholders within the business and my philosophy has always been to understand the business need and identify solutions to address business challenges. To be effective in HR, you have to be a business leader first. Then you can effectively align the people initiatives to the strategy.

Before joining Turner & Townsend in 2012, I held HR leadership roles at Prudential Financial and Bristol Myers- Squibb (BMS). I have 20 years of experience in human resource management delivering strategic outcomes for both private and publicly traded large scale and mid-sized companies. During my time at Prudential Financial and BMS, I supported both unionized staff and non-unionized staff. At BMS, I was fortunate to get rotational experiences in our corporate learning & development (L&D) function and in our organizational design (OD) function. Each strengthened my strategic capabilities which allows me to effectively support the business in its growth goals.

Q. What attracted you to join Turner & Townsend?

A. Before I joined Turner & Townsend, I spent my career at predominantly large US-headquartered companies (30k+ employees). Large companies are fantastic training grounds to learn your craft as development resources and experiential learning opportunities are almost limitless. However, I’d got to a point in my career where I wanted to be more creative in how I delivered HR. That can be difficult to achieve in well-established organizations and Turner & Townsend’s entrepreneurial culture was exactly what I was looking for. From an HR perspective, it was a blank canvas that I could take and truly shape from the ground up. It was exciting to me as I thrive when I am able to apply my talents to develop something from start.

Q. Which project are you most proud of being involved in at Turner & Townsend?

A. I’m proud of the work my team and have done to elevate the significance of the role of HR. We’re seen as trusted advisers on all critical business decisions. However, I’m most proud of the work our region has done to support youth and young adults in our local communities. I facilitated a partnership with Year Up, a non-profit that provides job training to young adults between 18 – 24 years old. It allows us to provide young adults internship opportunities and to share our knowledge and experiences through speaking engagements.

Q. What do you most enjoy most about working at Turner & Townsend?

A. Without a doubt, my colleagues. There is a true sense of comradery at Turner & Townsend. I enjoy my team, our staff and my board colleagues. We respect each other and work hard for everyone’s mutual success. We are each passionate about what we do and why we do it. Most importantly, we have fun doing it.