Hunter Douglas

Frances Snow

Frances Snow is a dynamic human resources (HR) leader with more than two decades of experience driving organizational success. She oversees HR operations across North America, supporting a large workforce and multiple business functions. Snow is passionate about aligning people strategies with business goals, engaging teams at all levels and nurturing internal talent to create lasting organizational impact and drive continued growth.

From Learning to Leading

Each chapter of my career has been a journey of growth and discovery that has shaped my understanding of HR leadership and broadened the impact I strive to create. Although I have been with Hunter Douglas for over twenty years, my story began long before I assumed a leadership role. After graduating from York University, I pursued a diploma in HR Management at Seneca College, with sponsorship from Hunter Douglas. This combination of real-world exposure and academic grounding gave me a head start and set the tone for how I approached my career going forward.

I started out as an HR generalist, primarily supporting Canadian operations while also contributing to broader integration across business units. The first 15 years were highly influential, as I was very much immersed in the day-to-day challenges of employee relations, compliance and engagement. However, as the business grew and mergers and acquisitions created new opportunities, my role began to expand.

The biggest milestone came when I was appointed head of HR for Hunter Douglas’s North American dealer business, the largest global contributor to EBITDA. Today, as part of the executive leadership team in North America, I oversee five HR professionals across Canada and the U.S. Together, we support more than 1200 employees in everything from sales and marketing to finance and customer experience.

Driving Change, Hands-on

What makes this role particularly exciting is the scale of its impact. Our unit consistently contributes the highest earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to Hunter Douglas globally. As we work through the independent dealer channel in a B2B model, my team and I are constantly focused on partnerships. Our job is to ensure that employees are equipped, engaged and aligned with the strategic business goals so that dealers succeed in growing their businesses, which in turn grows ours.

“In my view, becoming a credible strategic partner is impossible without a hands-on understanding of how a business operates.”

Over time, my HR leadership style has evolved to become more hands-on out of necessity. I learned by diving in headfirst, understanding employee questions, policies and daily challenges, which gave me invaluable context. In my view, becoming a credible strategic partner is impossible without a hands-on understanding of how a business operates. I regularly engage with employees across functions, invest time in conversations with sales teams and visit customers directly. These interactions provide valuable insights that shape our talent management and coaching strategies.

Leadership and Engagement

As the head of HR, my key responsibility is evaluating the impact of initiatives like leadership development and employee engagement. At Hunter Douglas, we emphasize promoting and growing internal talent. Through tools like nine-box assessments and 360-degree feedback reviews, we identify high-potential employees and ensure they have actionable development plans. ROI is measured over one, three and five-year horizons by tracking the number of identified employees who move into leadership roles.

In addition, we invest in global management training programs that expose early-career employees to cross-functional projects, establishing a pathway for the next generation of leaders. When it comes to engagement, we use a tool called Organizational Health Index that goes beyond traditional surveys. It measures not only recognition and rewards but also clarity of vision, operational discipline, customer centricity and knowledge sharing.

Performance in Action

Our philosophy is to engage employees in discussions about goals and metrics before implementation. When people understand their responsibilities and why they matter, accountability becomes powerful, enabling leaders to move beyond data, drive change, and inspire their teams.

With that in mind, we break down hierarchy barriers through roundtable and skip-level discussions, while pulse surveys track the impact of our initiatives. Regular check-ins, both formal and informal, prevent unexpected issues at year-end and ensure employees never feel blindsided. This collaboration-over-command approach transforms performance into ownership, driving positive results and engagement.

Recognition and Rewards

While performance management is necessary and important, recognition holds the power to connect employees emotionally to the organization. At Hunter Douglas, every site embraces its own blend of engagement initiatives, from community volunteering to employee barbecues. One excellent example was our partnership with Habitat for Humanity, where employees and even customers participated in build days. Opportunities like these make employees proud of their contributions beyond the workplace. They foster a sense of belonging and strengthen retention by creating meaningful experiences.

HR Career Wisdom

For those aspiring to make a lasting impact in HR, my advice is to recognize your limitations and be open to partnering with leaders in areas where you have more to learn. Understanding the business beyond the HR lens requires fully immersing yourself in its strategies and realities. Never hesitate to rely on mentors and build strong networks, as this field thrives on shared learning.

Employment law and compliance are constantly changing, so staying ahead of regulatory shifts is just as critical as driving culture or engagement. HR leaders succeed only when they blend empathy with pragmatism, humility with resilience and curiosity with strategic foresight. True leadership in HR means creating spaces where people feel safe, supported and empowered to bring their whole selves to work every day.