HR Officer For Kaiser’s Nonprofit

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and Kaiser Foundation hospitals have named Chuck Columbus as the new senior vice preident and chief human resources officer.

Prior to becoming the chief of human resources, Columbus served as the vice president of labor relations. Columbus’ predecessor left Kaiser in order “to pursue other interests.”

Kaiser’s California operations are getting ready for a giant labor representation in September.

The Service Employees International Union’s United Healthcare Workers West and the National Union of Healthcare Workers will attempt to gain the votes of clerical and clinical staff members. More than 43,000 employees will vote in the mail-in election.

Columbus previously served as an HR executive for Ford Motor Co., acting, at one point, as the vice president of human resources for Asian markets.

According to Kaiser, Columbus has played a major part in developing their national labor relations strategy as well as managing collective bargaining in the first two quarters of 2010.