Scaling Strategic HR: Welcoming Tracie Sponenberg as Head of Fractional HR Practice at Lever Talent, Inc.

At Lever Talent, we constantly look to the future of talent strategy. Today, we are excited to announce a major step in that journey: Tracie Sponenberg has joined us as our Chief People Officer in Residence and Head of Lever Talent’s Fractional HR Practice.

Tracie is a former HR executive and a globally recognized keynote speaker who has spent nearly 30 years transforming how organizations think about their people. We sat down with Tracie to discuss her background, her vision for Lever's fractional practice, and the evolving landscape of HR.

Tracie Sponenberg, Chief People Officer in Residence and

Head of Lever Talent’s Fractional HR Practice

The Journey to Strategic HR

Tracie’s approach to people strategy was forged through decades of high-level leadership. Reflecting on her time as Chief People Officer at The Granite Group, she shares. "That chapter defined a lot of what I believe about people strategy. We transformed our HR team from a reactive, transactional cost center to a proactive, strategic business function. That experience shaped everything I do now."

In early 2024, Tracie launched her own firm to bring this expertise to underserved sectors. "I launched my own firm in early 2024, focusing on the industries I know best: distribution, manufacturing, and industrial companies. I’m passionate about these companies. Deskless workforces are often underserved when it comes to strategic HR."

Why Fractional HR is More Important Than Ever

The landscape of work is shifting rapidly, driven by economic uncertainty and the rise of AI. As highlighted in our recent exploration of the industry, fractional HR has moved from a "nice-to-have" to a critical strategic tool for several key reasons.

Fractional HR offers significant cost-effectiveness and flexibility, allowing organizations to access high-level strategic guidance without the long-term overhead of a full-time executive salary and benefits package. Furthermore, fractional leaders deliver speed to impact, hitting the ground running and bypassing the months-long "onboarding" phase typical of full-time hires to solve immediate challenges like retention or culture shifts.

This approach is also crucial for bridging the strategy gap, as many mid-sized companies have strong HR administrators but lack the senior-level perspective needed to align people operations with long-term business goals. Finally, in a volatile market, fractional support allows companies to scale their HR expertise up or down based on current needs, providing stability without fixed-cost risk.

Why Lever Talent?

For Tracie, joining Lever Talent was a natural progression in her mission to redefine talent strategy and provide this essential fractional support.

"I genuinely believe Lever is the talent strategy agency of the future. The combination of leadership development, partnerships with HR tech solutions like The Predictive Index, and now a fractional HR practice creates something that almost no one else is offering in an integrated way. Companies don't just need a hire — they need a strategy. And Lever can deliver that end-to-end."

Building the Fractional Practice

Tracie isn't just joining the team; she is helping us build the infrastructure for a new era of HR support.

"My relationship with Lever Talent has two sides, and I think that's what makes it work so well. I serve as Fractional Chief People Officer in Residence for Lever Talent and I advise their clients. And at the same time, I'm leading the build-out of Lever's Fractional HR practice, helping to shape how we deliver this service, who we bring on, and how we show up for clients at every level."

Tracie’s goal for the practice is clear: "My job is to build the infrastructure that matches that talent to the right clients, in the right way, so that companies get a genuine strategic partnership, and practitioners get to do work that actually lights them up. When both of those things are true at once, that's what success looks like."

“I’m thrilled to welcome someone with a wealth of practical HR experience and strategic acumen like Tracie to our team,” said Drew Fortin, CEO of Lever Talent. “We’re highly focused on staying ahead of the curve when it comes to how technology, such as AI, is transforming the world of work across sectors. Having Tracie as a thought partner gives me great confidence that we’ll remain at the forefront of these changes - providing high-ROI talent strategy services to our clients.”

Anchoring Humanity in an AI-Driven World

As AI continues to transform the workplace, Tracie sees fractional leadership as the human-centric anchor organizations need.

"AI is changing work at a pace most organizations aren't ready for... AI can optimize processes, but it cannot build culture. It can analyze data, but it cannot have a hard conversation with an employee who's struggling. It can surface trends, but it cannot make the human judgment calls that define a great workplace."

She believes fractional leadership is the answer to this transition. "A fractional leader can step in, help them build a roadmap, and stay alongside them through the transition. That's exactly the kind of support Lever is built to provide."

Meeting Leaders Where They Are

Today’s HR leaders are under more pressure than ever. Tracie notes that "Business leaders are asking HR to do MORE," while "HR leaders are caught in the middle, and many of them are exhausted."

"My role at Lever addresses this by bringing that senior strategic perspective to companies that might not have it internally, or may not have enough support. Whether that's helping a leadership team understand what kind of HR support they actually need, placing the right fractional professional for the right moment, or helping an existing HR person feel less alone in the work. That's the gap we fill. We meet people where they are and help them move forward."

Discover the Power of Fractional HR

Whether you need a high-level advisor to steer your culture through AI transformation or a hands-on professional to stabilize your HR operations, Lever Talent is ready to help. As Tracie puts it: "If you have a need in the people space, we have the solution. Whether that’s a fractional leader, advisory CPO, supplemental talent, an interim Generalist or Payroll professional - we work with incredible people who will have a huge impact on your organization."

Want to see what fractional HR can look like for your business? Book a call with our team to learn more!