As someone with experience in both consulting and HR, Silvana Nuzzo, a principal at Pay Governance LLC and lecturer in the M.S. in Human Capital Management (HCM) program at Columbia University School of Professional Studies, has seen the inner workings of a company from both sides.
Silvana began her career at an executive compensation consulting firm, providing independent consulting services to boards and committees across various industries. She stayed in that role for several years, during which she went back to school part-time for her MBA in Finance and International Business. Following that, she accepted an opportunity to work in-house as head of executive compensation for a large specialty chemical company—her first foray into the HR side of executive compensation—where she spent three years.
After that, she took on another HR-focused role at a smaller, publicly traded insurance company, leading total rewards, including compensation and benefits, HRIS, payroll, and other business-focused elements. “This role really ran the gamut of different disciplines across HR. There were a lot of corporate governance issues, and I got a lot of great experience learning to partner with the business leaders and other functions,” she said.
Though Silvana eventually returned to consulting, her time in her various roles across the field of executive total rewards has equipped her to manage both the needs of the business and the needs of the employees—and to see how these areas are integrated and critical to a company’s success.
Given her experience as both a consultant and as part of an “in-house” HR team, Silvana offers the following perspective: “When you're on the consulting side, you're an advisor to multiple clients in various industries but not a part of human resources and you're more of a revenue generator and a producer for the firm; whereas when you are in-house working for one company, you're part of the human capital functional area,” Silvana said. “You go from a profit center to a cost center, which is an interesting challenge.”
Now, as a lecturer at SPS, Silvana has found that even with so much career experience under her belt, as she teaches the theory underpinning human capital management and engages with her students, there’s always more to learn.
Your career experience includes both consulting and human resources, and you’re currently working in consulting while teaching in the HCM program. How has your time in both roles informed your work in the other?
I really enjoyed the time on the HR side of things. It was really an opportunity to make an impact. Working at an insurance company, we had several different business units, and having that exposure and meeting with business leaders to really understand how the business operates was critical. Upon discovering the program at Columbia, I was still in the role of head of total rewards. I thought it was great because the program recognized the need for human capital to be strategically linked to a company's business operations. Not many people transition from a corporate role back to consulting, but understanding some of the internal business dynamics and challenges I wouldn’t have encountered if I had not made those moves has been really valuable.
Being involved in the program at Columbia is great because it still keeps me very much attuned to the HR side of things. Although my firm focuses on consulting on executive compensation, when we’re in board meetings with compensation committees, we hear discussions on various HR disciplines, including succession planning, talent development, and the challenges of building a strong leadership team. They’re all interconnected now.
How is AI impacting the field of human capital management?
From a job landscape perspective, we're seeing a shift in compensation, with companies hiring people with AI backgrounds or skills. I believe this will become a steady state where everybody’s going to have to have some level of AI skill. So now what does that mean in terms of compensation? Are we bringing people in, or are we saying there needs to be a premium on the market? Will a $100,000 salary need to be increased to $125,000 due to AI experience and specialties? It’s going to continue to evolve, but I think that’s a lot of what we’re seeing now on the AI front.
What are your students’ career backgrounds like?
A majority have an HR background, but there are some who pivot from a different area, even an MBA program. We have students who have worked in various industries, including non-profits or publicly traded organizations, and across different HR disciplines, and they bring valuable perspectives. They’re saying, “Wow, I’d never thought of these areas as connected, but it makes so much sense.”
What does the program have to offer those who are already in HR?
This is a great program—if you want to understand more about the background of human capital, there are all sorts of different courses offered. Since it's a master's program, you can see which ones resonate with you. And that's what we tell our students. If they say: “I want to stay in HR, but I’m not necessarily sure,” or: “I have a passion for talent development,” or a passion for recruiting, or a passion for rewards—all of these are different areas of discipline within the HCM program. I think it's helpful to know that something like this exists. Even internally at my firm and at prior organizations, when we do training, I sometimes say: “This is something we actually teach at Columbia.” We want students to be able to apply what they’re learning to their day-to-day roles.
About the Program
The M.S. in Human Capital Management at Columbia University prepares graduates to be world-class HCM strategists able to address changing needs in building and motivating talented, engaged workforces in the private, public, academic, and not-for-profit sectors.
The program is available part-time, full-time, on-campus, and online. Learn more about the program here.
