PNNL

Amy Schmidt is the interim Chief Human Resources Officer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where she drives the Lab’s people strategy in alignment with its mission and both short- and long-term objectives. She leads a team of highly skilled HR professionals across all functional areas, applying a people-first and data-informed approach to advance an enterprise-wide strategy that builds culture, empowers talent, supports organizational transitions, and prepares the workforce for the future. Her work enables PNNL to attract, develop, and retain the people behind the high-impact science and innovation that serve the nation.

A future-focused leader, Schmidt is known for building collaborative, cross-functional teams that drive organizational agility and position the Lab to anticipate and respond to emerging workforce needs.

In her previous role as Head of Talent Management, she led the design and implementation of a progressive talent strategy focused on leadership development, performance culture, career growth, and employee experience. She introduced enterprise tools and programs to support life-long learning, coaching, and feedback while strengthening the leadership pipeline and building organizational capability.

Before joining PNNL in 2019, Schmidt held a variety of leadership roles in the public sector, where she led multidisciplinary HR teams across areas such as compensation and rewards, compliance, labor relations, safety, employee engagement, and HR operations. With more than 25 years of experience spanning both HR and non-HR roles, she brings a well-rounded perspective to her leadership. Her cross-functional background gives her unique insight into how HR strategies influence culture, strengthen the employee experience, and drive impact across the organization. Her broad experience and collaborative leadership style have contributed to fostering a culture of innovation, trust, and belonging.

Schmidt holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Change Leadership from Gonzaga University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Human Resource Management from Eastern Washington University. She is also a Senior Certified Professional through the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM-SCP).