Chris Ross
Head, Talent Acquisition, North American Packaging International Paper
Chris Ross is a seasoned Talent Acquisition leader with over 27 years of experience driving recruiting strategy, business transformation, and team development across Fortune 500 companies. Currently leading salaried talent acquisition for International Paper’s North American Packaging division, Chris specializes in executive search, commercial sales, manufacturing, tech, and R&D recruiting. His expertise spans global team leadership, skills-based hiring, and talent strategy for M&A and organizational change. A data-driven leader proficient in advanced recruiting technologies, Chris is passionate about building high-performing teams and fostering leadership cultures that empower growth. He holds a BS in Marketing from Merrimack College.
Seminars
- Launching a Kaizen-led diagnostic to uncover how manual resume screening, interview scheduling, and reactive sourcing were impeding hiring velocity and recruiter bandwidth
- Restructuring the TA function into vertical market-facing teams aligned to core manufacturing domains and layering in cloud-based recruiting platforms, resume grading tools, and AI-powered screening to automate top-of-funnel tasks
- Achieving a 30% increase in process efficiency and reclaiming thousands of man-hours, the team unlocked over $2.5M in cost savings by accelerating time-to-fill for high-volume and skilled roles, and enhancing candidate experience through instant, mobile-first AI interviews tailored to both hourly and salaried manufacturing talent
- What are the most effective ways to diagnose inefficiencies in current TA processes and translate insights into scalable solutions?
- How can automation-first strategies (AI screening, chatbots, dynamic interview routing) improve speed while maintaining candidate experience?
- What governance and structural changes help organizations reclaim control from vendors and embed TA into workforce planning?
- How can organizations measure the ROI of TA transformation beyond cost savings, such as productivity, engagement, and operational continuity?
