2021 Special Award Recipients

The Human Resources Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the HR leader who has made a demonstrable impact on the organization(s) they have served throughout their career. Not only is this person an influential leader within the organization’s management team, they are also a role model for the competencies and qualities that enable the HR department to be viewed as a critical function within the organization. In addition, they are an active contributor to the HR community through sharing best practices and elevating the stature of HR.

Cameron (Cam) Hicks is the Corporate Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Teleflex, headquartered in Wayne, PA.  Part of the S&P 500, Teleflex is a $2.6bn revenue/$18bn market cap global medical technology company with over 15,000 employees manufacturing/selling in 150 countries.  Since 2011, Teleflex has completed and integrated over 65 acquisitions globally, and delivered over 600% growth in shareholder return.  

Cam joined Teleflex in April 2013, bringing more than 23 years of experience in Human Resources and Organizational Development to his role.  In 2015, the Teleflex HR team received the HR Department of the Year award in the Large Company category, and in 2018, Cam was recognized by his Delaware Valley peers as CHRO of the Year.  He has served as a judge for both of these award programs in each of the years since.    

Prior to joining Teleflex, Cam served as the Executive Vice President of Human Resources & Organizational Effectiveness for Harlan Laboratories, a private global provider of pre-clinical and non-clinical research services. Preceding Harlan, he spent 20 years at MDS where he was the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for the global Pharma Services division, the Director of Human Resources for the Canadian Diagnostics division, and held a variety of other HR and Operational Leadership roles. Prior to joining MDS, Cam was on the teaching faculty at the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada.

Cam serves as President of the Teleflex Foundation.  Along with his wife Nancy, Cam also serves as a Governor with Opportunity International, a global non-profit that designs, delivers, and scales innovative financial solutions that help families living in extreme poverty build sustainable livelihoods and access quality education for their children. 

Cam is a Board Leadership Fellow with the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), and earned his B.A. in Honors Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business, London, ON, Canada.  Cam also holds an Associate of Music (A. Mus.) designation in classical piano performance from the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music.  An annual participant in the Philadelphia Broad Street Run, Cam has completed three international marathons, including the original course in Athens, Greece. 

Cam and Nancy have three children:  Aaron and his wife Rachel, who live in Berwyn, PA.  And David, who now lives in Heaven since his passing from colon cancer on May 1, 2021.  

The CEO of the Year award is part of the HR Department of the Year and HR Excellence awards.  The CEO of the Year is a champion of human resources, a role model for the values of the organization, and an active contributor to creating and sustaining a great place to work culture.

The CEO also includes HR as part of the executive team, incorporates HR’s metrics into the measure of the organization’s overall success, and is a respected business person. To sum it up, the CEO sees HR as a key source of the organization’s competitive advantage.

Toni Pergolin is a highly regarded strategic leader with acute financial acumen who has successfully grown companies organically and through mergers and acquisitions. 

 Currently serving as President and CEO of Bancroft, one of the largest human services providers in New Jersey and the Greater Philadelphia region, she has more than doubled the size of the company in ten years.  Her ability to lead nonprofit organizations with a focus on delivering excellence with a healthy margin has resulted in a decade of profitable returns enabling reinvestment in the organization’s mission. Pergolin is actively involved in the community, and enjoys helping others with important missions.  She has extensive board experience, including Fulton Bank and the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey — serving on the boards of seven organizations – both public and nonprofit — over the last decade.  Additionally, she is currently the Chair woman of Peirce College Board, and has just recently been appointed to the Inspira Board of Trustees.  She is also a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council at Rutgers School of Business and is on the Advisory Board of SyndesiTech. 

 Pergolin is an author, with her new book Too Important to Fail:  Leadership Lessons for Nonprofits, now available on Amazon. The book describes her extraordinary story of how Bancroft went from operating on the edge of bankruptcy to doubling its size and building a state of the art campus for those Bancroft serves today and in the future. Check out toni-pergolin.com to learn more.

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