GRH Welcomes Senior Director Human Resources Paul H. Cheney, MA, SPHR
By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, August 1st, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Release from Grande Ronde Hospital) Grande Ronde Hospital and Clinics (GRH) is pleased to welcome Paul H. Cheney, MA, to the Executive Team as our Senior Director of Human Resources. Paul comes to Union County all the way from the Fruitland, ID area. He brings with him more than a decade in Human Resources (HR) leadership and is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).
Cheney graduated Summa Cum Laude from Colorado State University with a master’s in organizational leadership with emphasis on HR Performance. He has double undergraduate degrees in Human Resource Management (Boise State University) and Business Administration (Utah State University).
Cheney has an impressive resume and a solid career in healthcare working in senior leadership, employee development and engagement strategies, labor contract negotiations, and grievance resolution. While working for the Saint Alphonsus system, Paul was a key member of the team, focused on improving the employee engagement scores. Those efforts brought the hospital within with the lowest engagement scores in the system to the highest. Cheney grew up in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He was first introduced to La Grande in his early twenties after taking a job working as a tree thinner in the mountains surrounding La Grande and Enterprise.
“In many ways that experience shaped the rest of my life. I’m looking forward to spending time in these same mountains again with my wife and family. My grandmother grew up in Union, so I do have some family history here,” he said.
Cheney and his wife have six children and one grandson. Their youngest will be starting their sophomore year here in La Grande this fall.
