Kimberly Moore-Wright's meandering career journey equipped her with the experience needed to become a leader in human resources -- what she defines as the most valuable portion of Truist Financial Corp. or any company. Moore-Wright started her career at Charlotte-based Truist (NYSE: TFC) with predecessor BB&T in 1996. She served in roles across leadership development, retail, community banking, commercial marketing and digital sales, among other areas of the company, until 2019. That year, Truist was created through the merger of BB&T, which had been headquartered in Winston-Salem, and Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks. Moore-Wright was then elevated to chief teammate officer and head of enterprise diversity at Truist. "This was an opportunity to bring together all aspects of my professional experience up until that point," she said. As the bank's top executive for human resources, Moore-Wright takes pride in keeping employees' needs at top of mind. She is charged with overseeing staff relations, talent acquisition and management, learning and development, employee experience, payroll, rewards and diversity. In her current role, she successfully led an initiative to increase Truist's minimum pay for employees from $15 to $22 an hour, which became effective in October 2022. She also helped push the expansion of employee health benefits and is an advocate for mental health being a safe topic in the workplace. Moore-Wright is also head of the Truist Leadership Institute. That Greensboro campus provides training, leadership and executive development, talent consulting and organizational effectiveness for personnel from the bank as well as other organizations. And she oversees boosting race and ethnic diversity in senior leadership. For her work in human resources, the Charlotte Business Journal named Moore-Wright as the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in the Best in HR Awards program for 2023. Moore-Wright spoke with CBJ about her career journey, trends she's recognized in the HR sector and valuable advice she has kept along her way. Following is that interview, edited for length and clarity. What attracted you to enter the HR industry? I had an opportunity in my career to participate in an early talent program at the bank and that helped me see the different areas and paths I could consider. Beyond HR, I've had roles in marketing and digital sales, retail services officer, market leader, credit training instructor, retail credit training manager, community bank and lending group training manager, and director of retail and commercial marketing strategy. With each role, I learned something new about banking and, specifically, the human aspect of it. I strongly believe that a company's most valuable asset is its people. With this in mind, I'm drawn to the human resources function because it allows me to work directly with the most valuable part of Truist, our teammates. How did you land your current role at Truist? My career progression to chief teammate officer and head of enterprise diversity at Truist wasn't linear. When the merger between our two heritage organizations was announced, I was the director of retail and commercial marketing strategy at BB&T. Our CEO at the time, Kelly King, asked me to step into the role of chief human resources officer for our new organization, Truist. I think he thought of me for this role because I have a very strong understanding of the financial services industry through the many roles I've held at the company. This gives me a unique perspective for how we should drive human capital at the company because I understand how we train our teammates, how those teammates connect with customers, and how we market ourselves externally. And this was an opportunity to bring together all aspects of my professional experience up until that point. With marketing, I helped shape and craft Truist's identity, culture, as well as our purpose, mission and values. Having worked in the business, I believe I bring human capital solutions to our partners in a different way. How has your career evolved since your early stages at the bank? My career has taken me to places I never thought I'd go. I think it's evolved because I've embraced opportunities along the way to learn new things, think with different perspectives and innovate for myself and others. Whenever someone asks me about career progression, I tell them that it's so important to remember that where you start isn't ultimately where you're going to finish. I never would have dreamed of being in this position when I started my career out of college, and I think that's important to remember. What's the biggest misconception people might have about your job? My role at Truist is focused on our teammates, which includes the standard HR activities such as teammate relations, benefits, compensation, payroll and more. But what people might not know is that I'm also very engaged in the business side of our company because that drives our priorities in human resources. It's so important to me to attend client calls and visit bank branches to understand the human resources needs of our overall organization. I especially love talking to our teammates and getting to know what's important to them. What trend in HR are you most optimistic about and why? I'm really optimistic about the role HR will play as (artificial intelligence) becomes more prevalent. Some may see this as a negative, but I think it's the opposite. HR will need to lead the way to help their companies adapt to the changes. Perhaps AI will automate a job so that it's no longer manual. There will still be the need for someone to manage the automation, so that's going to require talent organizations to look for candidates in a new way and learning organizations to upskill teammates. The opportunities that AI will create for HR will be profound and long lasting if we lean into the technology and adapt with it. What trend are you least optimistic about? During the pandemic, we saw a trend of more women leaving the workforce to focus on family. We have got to continue to build an environment where women can have the balance that they need so they can achieve what they want. This is bigger than Truist. There are gender norms we need to continue to break as a society. We need to create an environment and offer tools and resources for women to leverage so it doesn't have to be a choice of either/or, but both can occur in a manner that is still supportive of the individual and their family. What is one new or old HR tech product or platform that's made your life easier, and why? We're finding creative ways to link technology to the teammate career experience, and we are bringing forward innovative tools, strategies and resources to help with this type of career transparency and growth, in an effort to energize the career experience for all teammates. At Truist, we have incredible career growth and career mobility opportunities, and we want to empower our teammates to be lifelong learners who continue to grow in their careers. The Truist Career Discovery Hub is an exciting technology that provides the ability for teammates to see all of their career possibilities across Truist. Inside the hub, teammates can discover and learn more about the types of careers available at Truist, digitally connect with other teammates through the Truist Career Community for career conversations, as well as grow skills with development resources aligned to skill-gap areas. What's the most fulfilling aspect of your job? The people I get to work with every day truly inspire me, and that's such a fulfilling part of my role. Truist is a purposeful company that is focused on inspiring and building better lives and communities. I sincerely believe we are fulfilling that purpose and that gives me inspiration for the future of our company. A colleague recently shared how important perspective is. You may have to do something, but when you realize you get to do it -- your outlook completely shifts. I get to be the chief teammate officer and head of enterprise diversity officer at Truist, and that's a wonderful honor. I'm proud to represent Truist and the great work my team does each day.