Perry Sholes

Perry Sholes is President of Progressive HR Strategies Inc. Perry is a Business Executive with success in creating economic value through Human Resource leadership. He has helped to drive profitability at complex global organizations that include private equity portfolio companies, large public companies and privately-owned businesses. Perry has a unique background in Human Resource management in that he spent the early part of his career in Operations starting as an Hourly Employee and General Manager at Mc Donald’s Corporation, District Manager at Taco Bell Corporation and Regional Foodservice Manager at Target Stores Corporation -- all roles with P&L, operations, training and people development responsibilities.

His Human Resources skills were developed in the consumer products (CPG) industry at Nabisco Foods Company Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. Over the course of 10 years of service he advanced from sales training to eventual leadership responsibilities for the corporate functions of the Kraft Foods Latin America HQ in Miami. Perry has held several roles leading the HR function and guiding company culture. He joined Raising Cane’s team as VP Crew Resources. At Thomas and King Inc., a privately-owned operator of (87) Applebee’s and (6) Johnny Carino’s casual dining restaurants, he was VP Talent Management & Inclusion until the company sold in 2014. His recent human resources experience was with Last Call Operating Company; Fox & Hound and Champps Sports Grill concepts. He served as SVP HR & Risk Mgmt.

These roles have enhanced his ability to lead through course changes, operate within slim margins, grow the organization’s talent development infrastructure and build highly capable and service-oriented HR teams. Perry has many years of expertise transforming HR departments, improving processes and creating a service-oriented culture in areas such as talent acquisition, training design and facilitation, leadership development, talent management, succession planning, benefits strategy and administration, compensation, employee engagement, diversity & inclusion and risk management.

Perry has built a legacy in every organization and role by improving processes, diversity and talent management systems. He increased the number of women in Sales at Nabisco Foods, established a Diversity Steering Committee, co-facilitated a year-long CPG mid-manager leadership development program and recruited MBA talent from top schools for domestic and international Kraft Foods divisions. Most recently he designed internal talent infrastructure to promote from within and target diverse talent from external sources and implemented 360 leadership development programs at Thomas and King. At Last Call Operating Company, he led the relocation of HQ, recruited executive team members and corporate staff, redesigned management training, centralized and improved talent acquisition, implemented Affordable Healthcare (ACA) within compliance and lower than anticipated cost.

Perry received an Executive MBA from the University of South Florida and a B.S. in Marketing from Tampa College. He is a certified HR professional (SPHR and SCP) and certified Myers-Briggs Practitioner.

Perry has held several board positions with multiple associations including Women Foodservice Forum, Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance, Girl Scouts Louisiana-East and Society Human Resource Management (SHRM) Kentucky and Louisiana. He is the President and Founding Member of the Kraft Foods Alumni Network and CPG Professional Networks. President-Elect and Conference Director NOLASHRM and Diversity Director Louisiana State SHRM Council 2020. Perry is 2019 Graduate of NORLI and Urban League’s ULead Program. Finally, he is active as a Business Coach for the Urban League of Louisiana Scale Up! Program and Women’s Business Resource Center.