About Brad in HR

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My first job was at Sears Roebuck & Co. I was fifteen, mixing paint. I did not know it at the time, but I was already learning what would define my career: how organizations work, how they treat people, and what happens when those two things do not line up.

I spent five years as a Flight Attendant for United Airlines, based in Chicago and New York City. That chapter of my life taught me how to remain composed when situations escalate quickly, including during emergency landings. I was flying during 9/11, and that experience reinforced a principle I still carry into my work today: calm judgment is not optional when people are counting on you.

After the attacks, I took a voluntary furlough from United and joined The Container Store as a Sales Manager. It was a role I almost did not take because I thought I was finished with retail. It became one of the most meaningful chapters of my career. The culture was exceptional, and many of the core values I learned there still shape how I think about workplaces.

In 2005, I returned home to the Rio Grande Valley. After a period of transition, I joined Schlitterbahn Waterparks & Resorts in 2008 as a Staff Services Coordinator. It was my first HR role, and I was a department of one. I learned human resources by doing the work, making mistakes, and solving problems in real time.

Over the next seventeen years, I built HR departments, developed teams, and progressed from Coordinator to Senior Director to Corporate Director to Vice President across hospitality, behavioral healthcare, and nonprofit organizations. I did it without a college degree. What I had instead was curiosity, patience, and a willingness to sit with problems long enough to understand what was actually causing them.

By the end of 2025, I was burned out. Not on HR, but on the feeling of not being myself anymore. I left my VP role and started Brad in HR because I wanted to do this work on my own terms, with autonomy, integrity, and the freedom to help people without navigating corporate structures that get in the way.

Organizations don't have people problems. They have structural problems that get blamed on people.

When termination becomes routine, something broke upstream. When managers stop holding people accountable, it's usually because the system taught them not to try. When employees disengage, they're responding rationally to what they see around them.

I’m building a body of work around what I call the Pathway to a No-Termination Culture. The goal is simple. Design systems that address performance and culture issues early and honestly, so termination is the exception, not the norm.

You can read more about this thinking on my Substack.