New diocesan human resources director
While many people were getting ready for their summer vacations, Mary Foster was moving in to her new office at the Bishop Brady Center in South Burlington.
Burlington Bishop Christopher J. Coyne welcomed Foster to diocesan headquarters there as human resource director, effective July 23.
As a human resource management professional, Foster brings a wealth of experience to her new post, with more than 10 years of leadership experience in the healthcare industry.
She came to the Diocese from Sundance Hospital in Garland, Texas, a psychiatric hospital with 116 beds and 247 employees.
There she provided leadership direction and oversight for all HR department functions and activities with focus on conflict resolution, hiring and training. She worked closely with the CEO and leadership team to ensure compliance to corporate objectives as well as all federal and state guidelines.
In her new role with the Diocese, Foster will serve as part of the senior leadership team reporting directly to Bishop Coyne.
She shared her philosophy of what it means to be in human resources, saying, the motto, “One community, one Church” resonates with her “because I am in the people business.”
Her philosophy, she added, “is fairness, inclusion and service.”
While earning both her bachelor of applied arts and sciences degree and master of education degree in community counseling, Foster worked for nearly five years in the Provost Office of the University of North Texas in Denton.
Foster, who is a member of Society for Human Resource Management and the Texas Counseling Association, is married to Joe Foster. She previously lived in Mesquite, Texas.
She replaced Eileen O’Rourke who in August began a new job as the vice president of human resources at St. Michael’s College in Colchester. Since 2007, she had been the executive director of human resources for the Diocese of Burlington.