Best Fractional CHROs in St. Louis

St. Louis Fractional CHRO Services, Outsourced CHROs & Interim Chief People Officers

St. Louis has always been known for its resilience, grit, and ability to punch above its weight in industries like healthcare, logistics, agtech, and financial services. But as more companies scale, shift, or reset their operations, they’re running into a new kind of need: strategic people leadership without the full-time headcount.

Enter the fractional CHRO.

In the St. Louis region—including its broader footprint across Missouri and Illinois—companies are turning to fractional Chief People Officers to lead hiring strategy, rebuild culture, and guide leadership teams through transformation. These professionals offer executive-level talent strategy on flexible terms, helping organizations of all sizes operate with alignment and clarity.

At Digital Reference, we’ve identified a few standouts who are helping shape the future of people operations in the St. Louis metro.

Our Process: Who Makes the List of St. Louis Fractional CPOs & CHROs?

We apply the same curation methodology across every region:

✅ Active in the St. Louis metropolitan area
✅ Clearly working as a fractional, interim, or embedded CPO or CHRO
✅ Referenced or recognized for people strategy and executive partnership
✅ Public presence via LinkedIn or professional websites
✅ Experienced in moments of inflection: growth, re-orgs, scaling, or M&A

We highlight strategic operators who execute, not just consultants who advise.

Meet the St. Louis Fractional CHROs & CPOs Making Things Happen

💠 Leslie T. Tolliver

🔗 LinkedIn | 🌐 The Phoenix Group STL

Founder of The Phoenix Group STL, Leslie Tolliver is one of the most compliance-savvy and inclusion-forward HR leaders in the region. With a law degree (JD) and a SHRM-CP certification, she brings a dual lens of legal expertise and HR empathy to every engagement.

She was recently elected to the 2025 Board of Directors for SHRM of Greater St. Louis, a testament to her influence and credibility in the HR community.

Leslie’s standout qualities:

• 🧠 Legal expertise that strengthens workplace policy and risk management
• 🌍 Deep focus on equity, belonging, and restorative workplace culture
• 🌟 Actively shaping HR policy via SHRM leadership

Her consultancy, The Phoenix Group STL, focuses on empowering inclusion, policy compliance, and culturally intelligent HR design. Leslie helps companies build HR systems that prevent problems before they start—and ensure everyone in the organization feels safe and seen.

💠 Tiffany E. Slater, Ph.D

🔗 LinkedIn | 🌐 HR TailorMade, LLC

Dr. Tiffany Slater is the force behind HR TailorMade, a boutique firm she founded after more than 20 years in HR leadership. A PhD in Organization Development, combined with her SHRM-SCP, sets her apart as a scholar-practitioner who lives and breathes strategic HR.

She’s also a certified John Maxwell coach, True Colors facilitator, and Myers-Briggs practitioner—making her an ideal partner for companies that want to develop leaders, shift culture, and retain talent.

Why Tiffany is unforgettable:

• 💼 Extensive work across union/non-union industries—education, hospitality, healthcare, and more
• 🎙️ Host of Conversations with Consultants, a must-watch series for St. Louis business owners
• ✨ Firm believer in joy, boundaries, and zero-tolerance for toxic workplaces

Tiffany brings rigor and warmth to her work. Whether she's coaching senior leaders, facilitating strategic planning, or building onboarding systems, her goal is always the same: to create workplaces where people thrive, not just survive.

💠 Susan Brueggemann

🔗 LinkedIn | 🌐 SCBA Group, LLC

Susan Brueggemann has had a storied career in HR leadership. Before founding SCBA Group, she held executive roles at Anheuser-Busch InBev, Jim’s Formal Wear, and We Are Alexander. She currently serves as Director of HR at ESCO Technologies, applying HR strategy at an enterprise level.

At SCBA Group, she works with fast-growth companies to design custom HR infrastructure—and is a certified Professional Coach (CPC) and Energy Leadership Master Practitioner.

What makes Susan stand out:

• 🏢 Real-world operational HR experience across billion-dollar organizations
• 📊 Certified coach with a results-focused, people-first mindset
• 🔄 Proven success leading HR through digital transformation, mergers, and cultural resets

Her clients say Susan doesn’t just help them "follow HR rules"—she helps them reimagine HR as a driver of profitability and purpose.

💠 Donald F. Ascare, Jr.

🔗 LinkedIn

Donald Ascare, Jr. has been running PBJ&M Human Resources Consultants since 2013, offering no-nonsense, relationship-driven HR support to companies across the St. Louis metro. His style is hands-on, practical, and founder-friendly—especially for businesses in manufacturing, logistics, construction, and services.

Donald’s superpowers:

• 🧩 Fractional HR strategy built for small and medium-sized businesses
• ⚙️ Deep knowledge of compliance, hiring systems, and employee handbooks
• 📍 Over 10 years supporting employers across the bi-state area

If you're an owner who’s overwhelmed by HR, Don becomes your trusted partner, making complex systems simple and employee relations smoother. His firm fills the gap for companies that want HR sophistication without the bureaucracy of a big firm.

‍Why St. Louis Is Leaning Into Fractional Talent

St. Louis is scaling—and shifting. Whether you’re a hospital system navigating retention, a DTC brand expanding nationally, or a tech startup post-seed round, you need people leadership that matches your moment.

Full-time CHROs can be expensive, hard to hire, and difficult to scope. Fractional leaders solve for that by providing:

• 🧭 Direction without headcount pressure
  
  
• ⚙️ People systems that work at current and future scale
  
  
• 💬 Executive coaching and communication clarity
  
  
• 🔄 Cultural alignment during moments of transition
  
  
• 📈 Support for growth without bureaucracy
  
  

This is people strategy for teams that are in motion.

What the Best Fractional CHROs Bring

The CHROs featured here don’t just advise from the sidelines. They jump in with:

✅ Executive-level thinking
✅ Operational and HR system fluency
✅ Empathy-driven leadership style
✅ Ability to translate values into people strategy
✅ Real references from teams who’ve worked with them before

Greg and Ryan aren’t managing compliance—they’re shaping organizations. And they’re helping St. Louis companies grow with heart and structure.

Explore More on Digital Reference

📘 How to Hire a Fractional Executive
A practical guide for founders and operators navigating interim leadership.

📍 The Importance of Professional References
Explore why third-party credibility is more critical than ever in today’s trust-driven hiring market.

📘 Collecting Professional References: The Dos and Don’ts
References are often the make-or-break element of your next opportunity. Yet many professionals still treat the reference process as an afterthought or, worse, scramble to collect them last minute.

📗 The Talent Ecosystem: Why Fractional Operators Are Reshaping the C-Suite
Explore the structural shifts behind the rise of fractional leadership and what it means for your next hire.

Final Word: Fractional Leadership for Companies That Care About People

St. Louis has always built organizations that value relationships. That’s what makes it such fertile ground for fractional HR leaders—the kind who guide people strategy with integrity and results.

Greg Crook and Ryan Pride are already helping companies operate with more clarity, better communication, and scalable HR strategy. They’re not here to talk about what people leadership could be—they’re here to build what it should be.

Fractional CHROs are making things happen in St. Louis.

✅ Check Out Our Local Directories of HR Consultants by City

• United States – Nationwide
  HR Consultants in the USA to Watch
  From coast to coast, this national roundup highlights HR consultants who are setting the standard across industries—from tech startups to manufacturing and mission-driven nonprofits.

• New York City
  HR Consultants in New York City to Watch
  In the city that never sleeps, HR consultants juggle complex compliance, diversity initiatives, and leadership development in finance, media, fashion, and beyond.

• Los Angeles
  HR Consultants in Los Angeles to Watch
  From entertainment giants to fast-growing creative agencies, LA’s HR scene blends culture-savvy consulting with innovation in employee experience and DEI strategy.

• Chicago
  HR Consultants in Chicago to Watch
  Known for its corporate headquarters and thriving startup ecosystem, Chicago is a hub for HR pros helping companies navigate scaling, restructuring, and workplace culture.

• Washington, DC
  HR Consultants in Washington DC to Watch
  In the heart of the nation’s capital, HR consultants support policy-driven orgs, nonprofits, and government contractors with people-first strategies and compliance expertise.

• San Francisco
  HR Consultants in San Francisco to Watch
  With a tech-heavy client base, SF consultants specialize in startup scaling, remote team management, and designing inclusive, innovative workplaces.

• Dallas
  HR Consultants in Dallas to Watch
  From energy to healthcare to enterprise tech, Dallas-based HR consultants are driving organizational growth across industries in this high-opportunity metro.

• Houston
  HR Consultants in Houston to Watch
  Houston’s HR experts serve major sectors like oil and gas, healthcare, and logistics—helping companies modernize practices while navigating complex labor environments.

• Boston
  HR Consultants in Boston to Watch
  Home to top universities and biotech firms, Boston’s HR consultants often work at the intersection of academic excellence, healthcare innovation, and startup acceleration.

• Toronto
  HR Consultants in Toronto to Watch
  Canada’s business capital boasts a diverse HR consulting scene that blends global perspective with deep local knowledge across tech, finance, and public service.

• London
  HR Consultants in London to Watch
  London’s HR consultants balance legacy financial institutions with rising tech and creative firms, offering strategic talent support across global markets.

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