Trendsetters: Best Companies

Joyce Chastain got her start in HR when it meant little more than payroll and benefits administration and serving as the “rules police” — ensuring that companies complied with federal employment statutes. “I am so trying to move the profession away from that reputation,” she says.

Joyce Chastain [Photo: Scott Wiseman]

Indeed, the 55-year-old Florida native is a leader in making HR a means to meeting a company’s strategic goals, whether that means ramping up hiring or creating an incentive plan for workers to reach a company objective. The state Society for Human Resources Management chose her as its Florida Human Resources Professional of the Year in 2008. Aside from her service to the society, Chastain also is a mentor to HR professionals at other companies and a specialist in internal investigations and affirmative action plans.

Chastain spent nearly 30 years with consulting firm MGT of America in Tallahassee before meeting with executives of Mainline Information Systems, hoping to land the IBM reseller of server, software and storage as a client. “I absolutely loved the company,” she says. “Their enthusiasm for this company and what it had accomplished in a short period of time was contagious.” She joined it five years ago, and its 600-member workforce shares her enthusiasm. Mainline, 39th by revenue on our Top 200 Private Companies list, is also on our Best Companies To Work For midsized company list. “The word is out,” she says. “It’s a great place to work.”

Tags: Trendsetters, Business Services