Pinnacle Awards names 2026 Human Resources winners

The Pinnacle Awards announced its 2026 Human Resources winners, spotlighting leaders, employers and HR platforms that delivered measurable results across culture, talent, technology and organizational design. The program highlights how HR performance is being judged more on business impact and less on process alone.

Why it matters: - The awards point to what HR teams are being measured on now: retention, engagement, faster onboarding and business impact. - The recognition spans individual leaders, employer programs and technology platforms, showing how broad the HR function has become. - Winners were selected across six disciplines, giving the program a wide view of the profession.

What happened: - The Pinnacle Awards announced the winners of its 2026 Human Resources Awards on Oct. 15, 2026. - The program recognized people leaders, teams, cultures and technologies across the HR function. - Entries were judged across six disciplines: human resources leadership, workplace culture and engagement, talent acquisition and onboarding, learning and development, HR technology and analytics, and workforce planning and organizational design. - Awards were presented at three levels: Platinum, Diamond and Emerald.

The details: - In Human Resources Leadership & Individual Excellence, the CHRO / Chief People Officer of the Year Platinum winner was Dawn Sprague. - Jill Sutton, chief people officer at Oversight, won Diamond in the CHRO / Chief People Officer of the Year category. - In Excellence in HR Leadership (Overall), Two Six Technologies won Platinum and Emily Glass won Diamond. - Kim Shumate of Strategic Benefits Advisors won Platinum in HR Consultant / Advisory Partner of the Year. - In Workplace Culture & Employee Engagement, Revive Real Estate won Platinum in Best Place to Work by company size or region. - Milestone Pharmaceuticals won Diamond in the same Best Place to Work category. - Birdeye won Platinum in Workplace Culture & Engagement Excellence (Overall). - Access Health CT won Diamond in Workplace Culture & Engagement Excellence (Overall). - In Talent Acquisition, Sourcing & Onboarding, Milestone Pharmaceuticals won Platinum for Onboarding & New Hire Experience. - In HR Technology, AI & Data Analytics, Beeline won Platinum for AI & Automation in HR Operations. - Beeline also won Platinum for Best HR Tech Platform / SaaS Solution. - In Workforce Planning, Change & Organizational Design, Mirantis won Platinum for Organizational Design & Transformation (Overall).

Between the lines: - Kate Lang, executive director of the Pinnacle Awards, said the strongest HR work is often visible in retention, engagement and how quickly new hires become productive. - Lang said this year’s winners made that impact measurable and showed that people strategy is business strategy. - The results suggest the awards are rewarding outcomes, not just HR programs or titles.

What's next: - The Pinnacle Awards will likely continue using its multi-discipline judging model to compare HR work across leadership, culture, technology and organizational change. - Winning organizations can use the recognition as external validation of their HR operating model and results. - More information is available through the Pinnacle Awards' LinkedIn page.

The bottom line: - The 2026 winners show HR is increasingly being judged by measurable business outcomes, not just internal support functions.