During an awards ceremony on Monday, October 17, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation awarded Barry-Wehmiller CEO Bob Chapman the Tharseo CEO of the Year Award.
SHRM is the world’s largest HR professional society, representing more than 300,000 HR professionals across the globe, impacting 115 million workers and their families. The Tharseo awards are given to those who demonstrate innovative and impactful business practices leading to better workplaces and a better world by serving as visionaries, innovators and change agents.
Chapman has been the CEO of St. Louis, Missouri-based Barry-Wehmiller since 1975.
Chapman’s work is chronicled in his 2015 book Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, co-authored by Raj Sisodia, founder of Conscious Capitalism. The book has been translated into eight languages and sold close to 80,000 copies.
In 2016, Harvard Business School released a case study about Barry-Wehmiller’s approach to business that is now taught at 80 business schools. A non-profit, Chapman Foundation for Caring Communities, and a leadership consulting firm, Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute, bear Chapman’s name.
In recent years, Chapman has focused on creating leaders of tomorrow by sponsoring programs in K-12 schools and universities.
In 2021, Chapman and his team partnered with Fordham University and other Jesuit business schools to launch the Humanistic Leadership Academy, which helps professors and students become more human-centered.
