Dale Kunneman

Board Member

Dale Kunneman is a senior HR leader and business partner with 20+ years of international HR and operational experience in the oil & gas, and manufacturing industries.

He has a demonstrable record of successfully and proactively leading change across geographic and cultural boundaries to positively impact business results, driving organizational change and efficiency and, partnering with executive teams and boards, integrating Human Capital with business strategy. His expertise in HR functional leadership; business integration; mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; talent management, shared services and executive compensation informs all his work. He has worked and lived in North and Latin America, Europe, Africa, China, India, Russia and the Middle East.

Dale Kunneman is currently the Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at HollyFrontier Corporation.

Prior to joining HollyFrontier, Dale was the Executive VP of HR, and Chief People & Culture Officer at Accudyne Industries. Dale positioned the company for sale and maximized return on sponsor investment, enhanced the leadership pipeline and increased the company’s visibility, drove and motivated revenue growth through human capital, and enabled geographical expansion.

From 2004 to 2016, Dale served in progressive HR leadership positions with Baker Hughes, culminating with that of VP, HR, NA Operations (2013 – 2015), and subsequently as the HR Lead for Integration & Divestitures for the Haliburton acquisition. In the latter role, he significantly contributed to the successful collection of the contractual breakup fee of $3.5B. A key player in streamlining the company into 4 super-regions and 26 Geo-markets (eliminating 9 operating regions and 2 hemispheres), Dale assumed responsibility for the largest super-region ($13.5B business), directing a staff of 100 providing HR services to NA Operations’ 18,000 employees. He contributed to a 15% reduction in total compensation cost and a 10% increase in profitability YOY by leading the implementation of large-scale organization changes, including the establishment of a new Geomarket structure across NA operations to drive empowered/ local decision-making and functionalization of the P&L. He also improved accountability and cost management by establishing a robust HR operating philosophy, driving rigor in critical HR metrics such as headcount, attrition, staffing, diversity and rewards/recognition.

Earlier, as VP of HR, Western Hemisphere Operations (2011 -2013), Dale led the HR strategy for the $17B business and was a key member of the executive leadership team responsible Human Capital Strategies and HR activities/services for 22,000 employees in 15 countries. He drove 15% reduction of HR services costs by optimizing the $20M HR budget, and reduced annualized fixed compensation cost of 15% (~$25M) by converting 3,500+ field employees from salaried to an hourly pay structure, introducing a performance based compensation programs in support of compliance, and fixed vs. viable cost management.

Before, serving as VP of HR for Global Products & Services (2009 – 2011), and supporting 12,000 employees and 50+ manufacturing/ assembly facilities in the US, China, Russia, Germany, Middle East, LatAm and the UK, Dale positively impacted business results and drove organizational change and efficiency.

Dale earned a Ph.D. in OD / Adult Training, an M.S. in Organizational Development/ Adult Training, and a B.S. in Economics, Business/Marketing from Oklahoma State University. He completed an Executive Leadership Program at Duke University, and has PHR and SPHR certifications from the Society of Human Resource Management.

Photo of Dale Dunneman
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