Jen Paxton is SVP of People & Talent at Roofr, a high-growth SaaS company, where she reports directly to the CEO and owns both talent acquisition and HR — the full employee lifecycle. A three-time startup-to-acquisition People leader with more than a decade in startups, Jen has scaled companies to $50M ARR and built an HRBP coaching program at Roofr where every manager gets a dedicated HRBP as a personal coach. Her single biggest argument: HR should lead the AI transformation inside the company, not wait for it to land on their desk.

For People teams at 100–1,500 person scaleups, informal communication breaks down and no one has full visibility into what every department is building. Jen explains how HR's cross-cutting position — touching every department — makes it the right function to own AI change management, communication, and cross-team visibility.

• Siloed HR vs. cross-cutting HR: Jen Paxton argues traditional HR stays siloed while a strategic people partner understands how each department's work affects every other, making HR the only function that cross-cuts the entire business.
• Duplicative AI builds: At Roofr, where every employee has Claude access, Jen identifies the core risk of two departments independently building identical tools (her example: two pricing calculators) because there is no cross-departmental visibility.
• AI as change management, not just tech: Jen frames AI as a "hot potato" — it upends how people do their jobs, creating change management work and potential attrition that HR is positioned to own.

1. Assign every manager an HRBP coach: Jen Paxton's HRBP program pairs each manager with a dedicated coach who teaches effective one-on-ones and runs live role-play for delivering difficult feedback. Build the foundation before expecting managers to grow.
2. Replace flat "no" with options: When a manager brings a request, Jen recommends answering "this won't work, but what about X or Y." This frames HR and the manager as solving the problem together and builds trust.
3. Monitor AI usage to surface and share high-impact builds: Jen tracks company-wide Claude token usage to find valuable AI builds, then makes them publicly visible. This drives social learning and cuts duplicative work across teams.

• What's the difference between a strategic people partner and traditional HR? Jen Paxton explains that traditional HR is siloed and admin-focused, while a strategic people partner understands the inner workings of every department and how their work flows into each other. HR is the only function that genuinely cross-cuts the whole business.
• Should HR own AI enablement in my company? Jen argues yes. She compares "AI enablement" roles to the "head of remote" roles that proliferated during COVID and were later absorbed back into HR, predicting AI enablement will follow the same path under L&D, manager coaching, or HR ops. HR does not need to be technical — it needs the right partnerships and cross-departmental visibility.
• How do I build trust as an internal coach to managers? Jen builds trust through vulnerability, genuine follow-up questions, and framing herself as tackling problems alongside the manager rather than blocking them. She treats each coaching conversation as a two-way partnership, not a question-and-answer transaction.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Connect with Jen Paxton on LinkedIn

Johanna Flórez Restrepo is LATAM Chief People Officer at CryoHoldco Biotech, one of the world's top five stem cell banks, with over 15 years leading HR and organizational transformation across 8 countries, 2 continents, and organizations of 120,000+ employees. Her single biggest argument for People leaders: stop asking for a seat at the table and build real influence, so business leaders say "I need you here with me." Johanna Flórez Restrepo teaches a three-part Influence-over-Imposition framework — listen to understand, anchor to the final objective, and match empathy to each person's level.

In this episode, Johanna Flórez Restrepo unpacks the friction that hits companies scaling through rapid growth, M&A, and digital transformation: policy and compliance stop working as the primary lever with CEOs and directors, cultural change starts feeling like invisible work, and a single crisis — like a full cyber attack — can put payroll for thousands of employees at risk overnight. For People teams at high-growth companies where the leadership team can no longer oversee everything directly, her operating principles turn HR from rule enforcer into trusted business partner.

• Policy-first HR loses credibility: Johanna Flórez Restrepo explains that leading with rules, compliance, and normative alignment signals "rule enforcer" to CEOs and directors, not strategic partner — and loses the influence battle immediately.
• Invisible work during transformation: During cultural change, progress feels like nothing is happening; Johanna Flórez Restrepo reframes this marathon-like effort as preventive work that precedes visible results.
• Speed mismatch in digital transformation: Moving from pharma's multi-year product cycles to a digital business measured in seconds (page load, CTR, conversion) forced Johanna Flórez Restrepo to recalibrate what "urgency" means in People operations.

1. Listen to understand, not to respond: Stay calm, focused, and fully present in executive conversations. Senior leaders in lonely positions share their real fears only when they trust their HR partner is genuinely listening, and that trust earns proximity no title can.
2. Prioritize door one before door ten: In a crisis with fires everywhere, discipline means opening the door that moves you closest to the result first. Enforce rest, nutrition, and boundaries for your team so people stay functional under pressure.
3. Build a support network inside and outside the company: Inside contacts understand your context without a full briefing; outside contacts provide external perspective and prevent tunnel vision. Both protect your judgment when everything feels like a Titanic.

• How do I get taken seriously as a strategic business partner instead of a rule enforcer? Johanna Flórez Restrepo argues you build influence, not authority: know the business deeply, listen to leaders' real concerns, and stop leading with policy. When you do this, executives ask for you by name rather than granting you a seat.
• How should HR lead a company through a cyber attack or major operational crisis? Johanna Flórez Restrepo used three principles when a cyber attack put payroll for 5,000 people across 2 million kilometers at risk: self-awareness of your own triggers, a support network inside and outside the company, and discipline to prioritize what moves you closest to the result.
• Why does my culture and change management work feel invisible? Johanna Flórez Restrepo reframes this as preventive work that comes before visible work. Cultural change is a marathon — you are still moving toward the result even when progress isn't yet visible, because culture is behavior lived day by day, not policy written on paper.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Johanna Flórez Restrepo on LinkedIn