Nardi’s New Position as HR Manager

Christine L. Nardi , a native of Las Cruces, was appointed the new HR manager of the village of Los Lunas, located in New Mexico, exactly one month ago.

This position was just created by Los Lunas to fill a need for someone with the right skill set to help out the village. Previously, different employees covered the position ranging from department heads to the town’s financial director. According to Peter Fernandez, the village administrator who also filled in as an HR manager, the position had been opened for a year. They had not found the right person to take over the job.

During 2007, the town hired a consulting firm to put together a salary timetable. The firm thought that hiring an HR specialist would benefit them in the long run. Fernandez recognized that they would not have had to hire a consulting firm if they had already employed an HR manager.

Nardi’s previous experience includes working with the state of Arizona for 15 years, 12 of those 15 years she held the position of human resource compliance manager.

The village’s new HR manager has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance from New Mexico State University along with a master’s degree, with a concentration in business, from Arizona State University. Her professional certifications include human resources, certified compliance and ethical professional and certified professional in human resources.

One of Nardi’s many roles as a human resource manager for the town entails putting together a human resource department for the village along with keeping the town compliant with the state and federal laws, keeping department heads abreast of how she’s organizing the human resource department, going over policies already in existence and setting up payment and salary schedules.

According to Nardi, she has already run entire departments, which include people employed within all position types. She is excited to put together a team from the ground up. “I will be setting up the department, which is really a great opportunity,” says Nardi. She also has experience in the high “ethics professional” level.

In the past, Nardi has overseen a staff of 17 and has covered employment areas including salary, compensation, the health and safety of her employees and workforce planning needs. One of the areas that the new HR manager has experience in include any type of risks to be found within an organization in relation to how compliant an organization is.

Part of Nardi’s job involves making sure Los Lunas avoids becoming a part of public lawsuits. Not having to take part in a lawsuit saves the town money in the long run. This includes the proper training of police, firefighters and electric and maintenance workers.

Nardi says that working in New Mexico is the perfect fit for her because she and her new husband can be closer to their family than she would have been in Arizona.