Susan Preiss

Susan Preiss brings a broad view to people and business operations. Her career across project management, client services, change management, and people leadership has taught her to see organizational challenges from several angles. As Senior Vice President of People and Business Operations at Blue Ocean Contact Centers, she draws on that range to connect workforce decisions with operational performance and client expectations.

Project management taught Preiss to structure initiatives, balance priorities, and carry work from beginning to end. Client services deepened her understanding of customer expectations and service efficiency. Change management added another dimension: understanding why people resist change.

Building Clarity into Culture

At Blue Ocean, workforce strategy is designed around client needs and employee success. Recruiting, onboarding, workforce planning, leadership development, performance management, and training standards are connected to operational readiness. The aim is straightforward: put people in roles where they have the training, capabilities, and clarity needed to do their best work.

Preiss places particular emphasis on organizational clarity. Employees perform better when they understand expectations, accountability, and decision-making authority. Clear expectations give people a stronger understanding of why their work matters and what they are responsible for delivering.

One initiative she is especially proud of is the redesign of Blue Ocean’s competencies. The organization researched behaviors linked to employee success, engagement, and operational performance, then embedded those behaviors into performance reviews. Employees are evaluated not only on goal achievement but also on how they treat colleagues, clients, and themselves.

At Blue Ocean, employee experience isn’t viewed separately from client or customer experience. Capable, engaged employees who understand their role and have the tools, training and authority to do it well are better positioned to deliver the experience clients expect. That connection between people experience and business performance influences how Blue Ocean approaches everything from recruiting and learning to workforce planning and leadership development. “Our promise to employees is that their time at Blue Ocean should be time well spent. That means creating opportunities to learn, contribute, grow and understand how their work connects to something bigger.”

Finding the Real Problem

Preiss approaches process improvement with practical curiosity. She recognizes that work often differs from what process documents say should happen. Instead of assuming a process map reflects reality, she looks at how work is actually performed, where decisions occur, and where friction develops.

Employee surveys, leadership discussions, workflow reviews, metrics, client feedback, and direct observation help reveal gaps.

The objective is to find root causes rather than treat symptoms. A performance issue isn’t always a people problem. It can be the result of unclear ownership, an unnecessarily complicated process, uncertain escalation points, gaps in training, or technology that doesn’t fit the way the work actually happens. Clarifying responsibility, simplifying workflows, and improving communication can create durable results.

“The question isn’t people or technology. It’s how we use technology to make people more effective, more adaptable and better able to focus on the human connections that matter.”

Preparing People for Continuous Change

Technology is adding complexity to contact center operations. AI-driven tools, automation, analytics, and workforce optimization are changing the nature of the work. Preiss sees these technologies as enablers that can give employees more room for problem-solving and relationship building.

That requires more than technical training. Blue Ocean is strengthening learning frameworks, establishing consistent training standards, embedding change management into learning, and helping leaders build confidence as they guide teams through continuous change. The goal is to build the data literacy and adaptability needed to learn as circumstances change.

“The question isn’t people or technology. It’s how we use technology to make people more effective, more adaptable and better able to focus on the human connections that matter,” she says.

Designing for the Future

Preiss sees three shifts as important. Workforce strategy must become more skill-based, giving organizations greater flexibility to deploy capability as customer needs, technology and business requirements change. Leadership development must move from directing work toward enabling performance, removing barriers, developing talent, leading change, and building trust.

Organizational structures need adaptability. Clear accountability, empowered decision-makers closer to the work, and cross-functional collaboration can help organizations respond faster without weakening culture.

For Preiss, sustainable growth depends on creating organizations that can continually learn and adapt while keeping employees engaged. Her approach at Blue Ocean reflects that belief: people strategy, operational discipline, technology, and culture work best when treated as parts of one system.

In recognition of this people-centered leadership and her contribution to organizational effectiveness, Susan Preiss has been named one of the Top 10 People & Culture Leaders in Canada 2026.

Her message for the future is simple but demanding: organizations must learn continuously, use technology deliberately, and create the conditions for people to do their best work. For Preiss, the organizations that get that balance right won’t just create better employee experiences. They’ll build stronger operations, better customer experiences and more sustainable businesses.