Serving Our People, Serving Our Communities, Part. 2

Welcome Kelly DuLong, Craft3 Chief People Officer

‍This is Part 2 in a series about the new role of Chief People Officer at Craft3. You can read Part 1 here.

A new year. A new job in a new role at a 30-year-old organization. Any one of these could represent a daunting beginning for a new hire. But Kelly DuLong was a Division I fastpitch softball relief pitcher at the University of Notre Dame. Seamlessly stepping in and delivering in high pressure situations is well within her life experience. And, successfully cultivating culture that understands and respects the talent of the team she’s on is front of mind as Kelly embarks upon her new role as Craft3’s first-ever Chief People Officer (CPO).

While Kelly’s professional experience spans private and non-profit organizations, and technology and industrial sectors, her work has focused on developing people so they can be successful in their careers.  

‍“In my first days at Craft3, I am really focused on understanding the people and the culture that exist here already. Culture exists within an organization whether it has been cultivated deliberately or not. What is reinforced, what is promoted, what are organizational reactions to various circumstances, what is incentivized and what are disincentives – all of these are factors that can push a culture in any direction. It is an amazing opportunity to understand not only the Craft3 culture as it is today but what it wants to be in the future based not only on what people need in their jobs to be successful, but where Craft3 wants to go.”

A BACKGROUND IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE

To be its first-ever Chief People Officer, Kelly had to show she understood the scale of Craft3’s mission – from the expectations of its funders to the communities Craft3 serves. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest with her current home base in Portland, Kelly was specifically seeking an organization focused on “bringing up” all the communities in the region where she believed she could make a difference.  

‍“I have a nontraditional path into HR, I actually started in IT at a heavy manufacturing company. Over the course of a few different jobs and titles, I became focused on design and management of programs for employee engagement, recruitment, talent retention and workforce development. I have found that I can be a liaison between different worlds within an organization so that people with different backgrounds and different roles can function successfully toward goals they have in common. HR has technical functions in compliance and operations that are really important, but showing up as Chief People Officer means more than that. It requires an understanding of peoples’ goals, and what direction they’re headed. Whether frontline staff, mid-level supervisors, or executives – I really want to understand what people need so that in turn, I do my part to support their success.”

For the last nine years, Kelly has been Vice President of People & Culture for a nonprofit with members serving 13 million consumers across the northwest. She established human resource infrastructure that managed personnel and benefit changes, medical plan options, retirement plan and PTO practices, and developed work-life balance programs. She formalized and launched a diversity equity and inclusion program to strengthen a workplace environment that scored higher in employee engagement surveys than the most relevant benchmarks. The organization was recognized as a top regional workplace by The Oregonian in 2024, as well as one of the best nonprofits to work for in Oregon by Oregon Business Magazine. Her expertise and focus at Craft3 will be an ongoing pursuit of organizational culture that helps deliver mission-driven community impact.  

‍“From the individual level to the team level to the organizational level, a Chief People Officer is going to evaluate how to create, monitor, and support high performing organizations. Organizational culture is a living thing with so many important aspects. Fundamentally, I will work to be intentional about how we engage staff, how we ensure teams work well together cross-functionally, and how we get the highest, best performance from their greatest skills and talents.”

ACTING WITH INTENTION

The role of Chief People Officer is a new C-level position at Craft3 on a leadership team that has been in transition. Kelly is aware of the critical role she can play to help build a foundation for her colleagues on which everyone is operating and growing in the same direction – and celebrating their successes.

‍“We can and should be intentional about what our culture is. Because you will see what is purposely reinforced. When we have a win – we make sure we understand and celebrate what we did that we should keep doing – because it worked. There will be specific tools for how a win came about – we can decide that these are part of what we want to see again, and we can identify and reinforce the behaviors that were successful. We can cultivate what we think – informed by active listening – is necessary to thrive. We can make sure that at every level of our organization, what we say and do are mirrored so it shows up consistently everywhere.

‍We can also be ok with making mistakes as long as we learn and grow. It can be detrimental to rush past a misstep when sometimes the best ideas can come from what you tried, even if they failed. Improving because of lessons learned is something to celebrate because we know we are better when we move forward.

‍I have a responsibility as CPO to make sure that the executive team will have what they need to execute on mission at the highest level. But I need to express that I believe this is true for every part of Craft3, every layer. If you have questions, or want guidance, CPO doesn’t mean just supporting execs, I want to know what you need to be successful at your job. We all will support each other.”  

For anyone who isn’t a sports fan, a person who is a relief pitcher – a “reliever” – often specializes in specific situations to enhance a team’s chance at success during a softball or baseball game. Kelly was not only a reliever at Notre Dame, but she was Team Captain, showing early on that her peers looked to her to set a tone and bring out their best.

‍“Craft3 has been around a long time. The foundation is there. The ongoing support of the community is there. There is an opportunity for a person with a certain skill set to do what needs to be done to get through a special situation. I think my background and Craft3’s model and mission are a great fit. We can work some magic.”