Julia Healy
HR Professional - Independent Consultant

Seasoned HR Professional & Aspiring Ombuds

As an aspiring Ombuds and seasoned HR professional, I wish to sincerely thank the IOA for giving me the amazing opportunity to attend the 2026 Annual Conference that was held virtually from the 13^thto 15^th of April. Through my work as an HR professional, I have experienced the powerful and very positive impact that an Organizational Ombuds work has had on both employees and organization.

The thought-provoking discussion during one of the sessions on how to make the invisible visible, resonated strongly with me. Many are unaware of what an Ombuds does and what value they bring to both employees and the organization. In my experience working as an HR professional, I have come to appreciate that the Organizational Ombuds is an invaluable resource to check the pulse of the organization, identify concerns and highlight trends through their reporting of anonymized data. This valuable information enables the organization to take proactive steps to address areas of concern, ensure that it has or develops clear policies and processes, and provides an opportunity to address grievances at the earliest stage to support retention, and to effectively mitigate risk and reputational damage.

Much still needs to be done to educate both employees and senior management of what an Organizational Ombuds does and how they work to provide clarity, build trust and support the invaluable work of the Ombuds. To promote the long-term sustainability of the Ombuds role, it is vital that employees and the senior leadership clearly understand and appreciate the invaluable benefits and return on investment that an Ombuds work brings.

Update from the Asia Pacific Regional Advancement Committee (RAC) Conference:‘The Ombuds Role in a Complex, Challenging and Rapidly Changing World’. Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand. October 8-10

by Fred Wright, Chair of the International Outreach Committee and Former AP RAC Co-Chair 

The IOA annual conference always provides a great opportunity to come together as ombuds to build community, advance our knowledge, and discuss the latest trends or issues we face as a profession. As we look back on the 2025 annual conference in Miami, three conference participants graciously shared reflections on their conference experience. Dawn Miller Sander (DMS), Assistant Ombuds at the American Red Cross; Geoffrey Adelsberg (GA), Associate Ombuds at Virginia Tech; and Natalie Grecu (NG), Faculty Ombuds for Utah Valley University responded to four questions that provided the framework for their reflection. Here are the highlights from their reflections:

Tell me a bit about yourself and your role as an ombuds

DMS: I have been an Ombuds with the American Red Cross for 4.5 years and I collaborate primarily with our external constituents, including blood donors, financial donors, disaster clients and others. In addition to collaborating with visitors I assist the Corporate Ombuds with outreach presentations, training programs and the annual report. Our outreach has created excellent partnerships with HR, Learning and Development, & the Office of General Counsel, while maintaining our independence.

Two of the training topics I have been exploring and creating content for include The Art of Positive Intent and Kindness integrated into Leadership Anchors. The Art of Positive Intent has been very well received at all levels of the workforce and Kindness will be rolled out later in April.

By Fred Wright, Chair of the International Outreach Committee and Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Committee of the IOA,

Over three days in September 2024 the Asia Pacific Regional Advancement Community (AP-RAC) held its 6^th in-person conference in Beijing, China. Seventeen members of the RAC attended in person whilst four members were able to attend some sessions virtually. The conference was generously hosted by the Asia Investment Infrastructure Bank (AIIB), and MARS Incorporated whilst Sophia Qiao, Pfizer Ombuds generously supplied wine for some of the social events.

By Lana Smith-Hale, LCSW,
Assistant Ombuds, UC Santa Barbara,

As a self-proclaimed extrovert, I am still surprisingly nervous about going into a new space filled with colleagues I have never met. And as the only member of my team who attended the conference this year, I was nervously looking forward to what lay ahead. I am an Ombuds in Higher Education and am familiar with attending conferences in this sector; yet as an Ombuds with one year of experience, I felt the pressure with this experience to cement my belief if this was the right field for me. Spoiler alert- it is! Here are the three main takeaways I’d like to share from my time at IOA Indy:

1. When I arrived late at night, I was surprised at the friendliness of fellow conference-goers that started right away. Even at 11 am, after a long day of travel, someone introduced themselves at the elevator and shared their excitement for elements of the conference. I was delighted to see the friendly face of Paul Sotoudeh whose warm welcome helped ease my worries that this was going to be a fun experience. From there, the friendliness of colleagues connecting was infectious. People were very eager to connect one person to another: "Have you met my friend from XYZ?" "You would love to talk to so-and-so from ABC". The accessibility, warmth, and down-to-earthness of meeting the giants in the field like Chuck Howard and Ellen Miller, to hearing Mary Rowe in sessions felt comfortable and kind. Having lunch with my IOA Mentor, Kathie Greenwood, in person was another big highlight. So be prepared, that even if you are not an extrovert and don't know many folks attending, you will be surrounded by friendly folks, eager to connect with old and new ombuddies alike.
   
   
2. The conference structure involved keynotes and breakout sessions that included an effort to pump folks up for the challenging work we do and give hope in times that feel extra challenging globally. What makes the IOA conference unique in my opinion is the diversity of ideas, thoughts, professions, and education of attendees. I loved learning about different organizations that have ombuds (yay to the US Air Force Academy) and was inspired by many sessions that helped me think in new ways of how culture affects not only our participants’ experiences but my practice as an Ombuds (shout out to Neal Powless). I felt challenged and invigorated by this experience and that the conference's mission to inspire was done.
   
   
3. Indiana’s motto is the “Crossroads of America”, and to me, this appropriately fits as being my first experience at my Crossroads as an Ombuds. The global attendees were a huge highlight and were so impressive to me. I delighted in the shared knowledge exchanged and efforts to understand the challenges faced by Ombuds around the world. I enjoyed Qinhui Jiang’s session but loved, even more, how folks lined up to share their connection to Kenya with him!

My experience at the 19th Annual IOA conference in Indiana was full of excitement, knowledge, and friendships - I hope to see you at the next one!

By  Randolph Scott, Interim Student Ombuds & Assistant Director of International Programs, University of West Florida

It was an honor to be selected as a recipient of the New & Aspiring Ombuds Scholarship for the 17th Annual IOA Conference. As a new Student Ombuds at the University of West Florida, attendance at the IOA Annual Conference was an incredibly valuable opportunity for me to learn more about the core functions and responsibilities I have as an Ombuds as well as the opportunities I have to make a positive impact on my campus.

By Madeline Kleinberg, Graduate Assistant, Office of the Ombudsperson Division of Academic & Student Affairs

As a graduate student still very new to the ombuds field, being able to attend the 2022 IOA Conference was such a valuable experience. The sessions I attended virtually allowed me to learn from the wealth of knowledge in the ombuds community. There seemed to be an abundance of interesting and thought-provoking sessions by a diverse group of ombuds professionals. My only experience in ombudsing has been limited to higher education, so it was eye-opening to gain insight into how broad the field is, and how impactful ombuds can be. I am looking forward to viewing some of the sessions that I was unable to attend live.

By Herschenia Brown, MBA, CIHC, ADR, Owner of In Agreement Dispute Resolution, LLC

The experience that I had at the IOA 17th Annual Conference – “Belonging Together Reimaged” was unmatched! As my very first time attending the conference, there was an incredible amount of comradery, knowledge, information, and tools that I now have under my belt while I explore my career trajectory as an ombuds. With so many sessions to choose from, along with the opportunity to revisit the recordings, there was no stone left unturned. Also, from the comments during the Q&A sessions, many participants were eager to communicate in the near future to explore more questions outside of a session’s timeframe.

I have two absolute favorites I would like to share:

1. Being that my background is in financial operations, accounting, and reporting, my absolute favorite session was “D3 – Reimagining Ombuds Reporting: New Tools and Techniques for Better Data Collection”, hosted by Chuck Doran, Megan Winkeler, and Colin Rule. As an aspiring ombuds, I have learned of different tools that people use in their practices to make the reporting as efficient as possible. However, from what I gathered from the feedback from the attendees, not enough reporting tools have features that capture specific critical data with full security and encryption measures that are critical to the core of the ombuds role. This session mentioned some effective reporting tools with this functionality and more! If you didn’t get the opportunity to attend this session, then it is definitely worth checking out.