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July 2026 BAHREC Newsletter
BAHREC | Message from Leadership
Brad Margolis, President, 2026-2027
Hello BAHREC Members,
July marks the midpoint of the year, and for many of us, it’s a natural moment to step back and assess. Not just business performance, but how our organizations and our people are holding up.
The cumulative weight is real. If your organization has navigated restructuring, budget pressures, or strategic pivots this year, the effects don’t reset with a new quarter. Employees carry forward the anxiety from earlier uncertainty, even when conditions stabilize. Managers who delivered difficult news in Q1 may be running on fumes. As HR leaders, we’re often so focused on supporting everyone else that we underestimate the toll on ourselves. Mid-year is a reasonable moment to honestly assess organizational fatigue and our own.
Workforce planning feels harder than it used to. We’ve always managed through cycles, but the current environment has added layers of complexity. Hiring remains cautious while critical roles sit open. The skills we need are shifting faster than our development programs can keep pace. And the calculus of build versus buy versus borrow requires constant recalibration. Many of us are being asked to scenario plan across multiple futures simultaneously, which is intellectually demanding work with imperfect information.
Manager capability is emerging as a critical gap. In conversations with members, this theme surfaces repeatedly. Managers are being asked to lead through ambiguity, have difficult conversations, support employee wellbeing, and drive performance, often without adequate preparation. The gap between what we expect from managers and what we’ve equipped them to do has widened. Investing in manager effectiveness may be one of the highest-leverage moves available to us right now.
Summer offers a window. The slightly slower pace of July and August can create space for the strategic thinking that gets crowded out during the year. What assumptions from January no longer hold? What have we learned about our organizations and our people? What deserves more attention in the back half of the year?
I continue to value the conversations happening across this community. Your willingness to share real challenges and practical approaches makes BAHREC valuable in ways that extend well beyond our formal programming.
Wishing you a meaningful summer.
Warm regards,
Brad Margolis
President, BAHREC
Monthly Program & Networking Event
Join your BAHREC friends and colleagues for an evening of relaxed networking, refreshments, and fun! Is your Net-Working?
Get ready to experience networking exactly the way it was intended to be—fun! Join us outside under the sunny skies and refreshing breeze of hip, cool downtown Mountain View for the BAHREC Summer Social Event, and don't forget to bring your sunglasses. This lively gathering is the perfect opportunity to keep your professional network vibrant, welcome and introduce our newest members, and even score an extra entry in our drawing by bringing along a colleague or friend. Show your team how it's done by leading by example and treating them to a field trip to network with the HR community, because leaders at all levels know the importance of keeping their connections alive and thriving.
Date: August 19, 2026
Time: 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Location: Steins Beer Garden, 895 Villa Street, Mountain View, CA 94041
Early Bird registration is open! Register Now!
Insights From Our Latest Program
Illuminating Hidden Brilliance: Revealing the Parts of Your Team That Spark Innovation.
Some of the HR professionals gathered at the Inspired Purpose Partners on June 24th for another enlightening event. Hosted and sponsored by Newfront, the session featured Tony Martignetti, Chief Illumination Officer, who challenged attendees to move beyond narrow organizational identities to unlock full-spectrum impact.
Through compelling stories and neuroscience, our HR attendees learned to identify forces suppressing creativity and leverage the LIGHT Model to activate hidden brilliance. The keynote provided practical frameworks to elevate everyday transactional interactions into high-trust conversations, successfully equipping participants with the tools to foster psychological safety, uncover untapped talent, and create thriving workplaces where innovation can spark.
Member Spotlight
Jennifer Harvey, Vice President, Human Resources at CareDx
“I joined BAHREC as I took on a new leadership role and was looking to connect with trusted, inspirational HR leaders while continuing to grow strategically. I’ve especially valued access to timely market insights and the opportunity to strengthen my executive presence through programs like the Grace Under Fire workshop. I'm looking forward to continuing to engage with this fabulous community!“
~Jennifer
