Eric Ray, who currently serves as Colorado State University’s executive director of strategic partnerships and employee relations, has been named vice president for human resources following a national search.

CSU President Amy Parsons announced the appointment April 21, noting that Ray has served in leadership positions on the human resources team since 2020.

“Eric has a long track record of modernizing and improving HR systems across organizations,” Parsons said. “I look forward to working closely with him on strategies and initiatives in this high priority area.”

Ray will start in his new role on June 1. He succeeds Interim Vice President for Human Resources Brett Anderson, who was appointed in October.

Ray has more than 20 years of HR leadership experience in a wide range of specialties, including employee relations, talent acquisition, compensation, workforce planning, employee engagement, change management, benefits, performance management and workforce development.

His past work has included 18 years in HR leadership roles with JBS USA, an organization with more than 100,000 employees at more than 100 facilities in the U.S., Canada and Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Tennessee Technological University and has a long track record of optimizing employee growth and performance to meet organizational objectives.

As CSU’s VP for human resources, Ray will oversee teams responsible for talent acquisition; employee and labor relations; HR business partners; classification and compensation; talent development; benefits; HR service center; HR information systems; payroll; and operations resources.

In announcing the appointment, Parsons thanked Anderson for his service in the interim role, and she expressed gratitude for the search committee and its chairs, Vice President for Information Technology Brandon Bernier and Vice President for University Operations Brendan Hanlon, as well as all who contributed to the search process.