{"id":39236,"date":"2025-12-19T11:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/?p=39236"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:00:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:00:42","slug":"ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/","title":{"rendered":"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll:<\/br> A Strategic Win for SMB Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

UKG<\/a>, a leading global AI platform unifying HR, pay, and workforce management, announced on December 12, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inova Payroll<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This acquisition represents a significant strategic move that will reshape how small and mid-sized businesses access comprehensive human capital management and payroll services. The deal, subject to customary closing conditions and expected to close in early 2026, brings together UKG\u2019s technology platform with Inova\u2019s proven service delivery model.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Understanding the Players<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Inova Payroll, based in Nashville, Tennessee, serves more than 4,000 businesses across the United States. The company functions as a human capital management and payroll services provider specifically focused on small and mid-sized businesses. Inova has operated as the largest reseller of the UKG Ready suite nationwide, building deep expertise in deploying and supporting this technology platform for SMB customers.<\/p>\n

Inova\u2019s approach centers on enhancing HR operations through their expertise and robust benefits support. The company helps employers manage everyday HR tasks and compliance requirements more effectively, allowing them to better serve their employees. Inova streamlines essential processes and reduces manual effort for its clients.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s growth trajectory and market recognition validate its business model. Inova has been featured on the annual Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States eight times<\/a>. This accomplishment has been achieved by less than 1% of Inc. 5000 recipients, demonstrating sustained excellence and market demand for Inova\u2019s services. Additionally, the company has captured numerous awards and honors from G2<\/a>, which publishes reports and rankings on customer satisfaction based directly on end-user feedback and reviews.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Strategic Rationale<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The acquisition will enable UKG to directly provide the SMB market segment with innovative HR support and full benefits services. This represents a significant expansion of UKG\u2019s service capabilities in a market segment that requires both sophisticated technology and hands-on support.<\/p>\n

Arlen Shenkman, President, Chief Financial Officer at UKG, explained the strategic thinking behind the acquisition. Inova has been a trusted UKG Ready partner for seven years, helping thousands of small and mid-sized businesses level the playing field against larger competitors. The partnership has focused on unlocking productive, efficient, and flexible workplace experiences, especially for SMBs with frontline teams. The combined organization will have an even greater impact on the SMB market segment, bringing together UKG\u2019s technology and scale with Inova\u2019s deep service expertise to deliver best-in-class frontline employee experiences that drive exceptional customer value.<\/p>\n

Joe Schweppe, CEO at Inova Payroll, described the acquisition as an exciting new chapter for his organization. The deal allows Inova to bring its service-driven approach to an expanding community of small and mid-sized businesses seeking a technology platform that simplifies how they schedule, manage, engage, and inspire their employees. Schweppe emphasized that Inova\u2019s commitment to empathy, kindness, superior service, and innovative solutions has never been more achievable. The team and clients will benefit from direct access to enhanced product development, while UKG gains the advantage of Inova\u2019s deep expertise in attracting and supporting small and mid-sized businesses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Market Context and Significance<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The small and mid-sized business market faces unique challenges in human capital management. These organizations often lack the resources and dedicated HR staff that larger enterprises possess, yet they face the same complex compliance requirements and operational demands. For SMBs with frontline teams, the challenges multiply as they must manage scheduling, time tracking, payroll, benefits administration, and employee engagement across dispersed workforces.<\/p>\n

Inova has built its business by addressing these challenges. By combining UKG Ready<\/a> technology with HR expertise and benefits brokerage services, Inova provides SMBs with enterprise-grade capabilities delivered through a service model that matches their needs and resource constraints. The company\u2019s role as the largest UKG Ready reseller nationwide demonstrates both the strength of the technology platform and the market demand for a service-wrapped delivery model.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What This Means for the Market<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By acquiring Inova, UKG gains several strategic advantages. First, the company can now directly control the customer experience for a significant segment of its SMB customer base, ensuring consistent service quality and brand representation. Second, UKG gains immediate access to Inova\u2019s expertise in customer acquisition, onboarding, and support for small and mid-sized businesses. Third, the acquisition brings more than 4,000 customer relationships directly under UKG\u2019s umbrella, strengthening its market position and recurring revenue base.<\/p>\n

For customers, the acquisition should provide benefits in several areas. Direct access to UKG\u2019s product development roadmap and resources should enable faster innovation and more responsive feature development. The combination of technology and service delivery under one roof should improve coordination and reduce friction in the customer experience.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Analyst Perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Michael Rochelle, Chief Strategy Officer and Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group\u2122, offered this assessment of the acquisition:<\/p>\n

\u201cUKG\u2019s acquisition of Inova Payroll demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of what small and mid-sized businesses actually need to succeed with HCM technology. Too many vendors in this space assume that SMBs simply want cheaper, simpler versions of enterprise software. The reality is far more nuanced. These organizations need full-featured platforms that can handle complex scheduling, compliance, and workforce management challenges, but they also need expert guidance and support to implement and optimize these systems. Inova has proven over seven years and across 4,000 customers that this combined technology and service model works. By bringing this capability in-house, UKG\u2019s acquisition of Inova embeds into UKG\u2019s business model a proven go-to-market approach that addresses real market needs. The fact that Inova has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list eight times and consistently earns high customer satisfaction ratings validates that this is not just a good idea but a model that customers value and are willing to pay for. We expect this acquisition to strengthen UKG\u2019s competitive position in the SMB market significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Based on the seven-year partnership history and the strategic alignment between the companies, the prospects for successful integration appear strong. UKG is not acquiring an unfamiliar business but rather bringing a proven partner into the fold. This familiarity should reduce integration risk and accelerate time to value.<\/p>\n

For the SMB market, this acquisition signals that UKG continues to take the needs of clients seriously and is willing to invest in service models that maximize how technology can create breakthrough performance impact for their clients. UKG offers an exciting new development for a market segment that has too often been underserved by solution providers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UKG, a leading global AI platform unifying HR, pay, and workforce management, announced on December 12, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inova Payroll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":39237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1921],"tags":[5782,1165],"class_list":["post-39236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-inova-payroll","tag-ukg"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market - Brandon Hall Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UKG, a leading global AI platform unifying HR, pay, and workforce management, announced on December 12, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inova Payroll.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market - Brandon Hall Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UKG, a leading global AI platform unifying HR, pay, and workforce management, announced on December 12, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inova Payroll.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brandon Hall Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T15:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UKG_14-Dec.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"858\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"572\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Rochelle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Rochelle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Rochelle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3eced4ed7373c3605d3400c3718cf2f7\"},\"headline\":\"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T15:00:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1078,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all\",\"keywords\":[\"Inova Payroll\",\"UKG\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/\",\"name\":\"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market - Brandon Hall Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T15:00:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3eced4ed7373c3605d3400c3718cf2f7\"},\"description\":\"UKG, a leading global AI platform unifying HR, pay, and workforce management, announced on December 12, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inova Payroll.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all\",\"width\":858,\"height\":572},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Brandon Hall Group\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3eced4ed7373c3605d3400c3718cf2f7\",\"name\":\"Michael Rochelle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/09eab4bdb914307cd2b15a11be79cb624e4ad549031807fb42f51fb5936d36de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/09eab4bdb914307cd2b15a11be79cb624e4ad549031807fb42f51fb5936d36de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/09eab4bdb914307cd2b15a11be79cb624e4ad549031807fb42f51fb5936d36de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Rochelle\"},\"description\":\"Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Michael was the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder at AC Growth. Michael serves in a variety of roles including overseeing research and advisory support for organizations and solution providers. Michael is one of the company\u2019s principal analysts covering learning and development, talent management, leadership development, HR, talent acquisition and DEI. Michael brings nearly 40 years\u2019 experience in executive leadership roles, including human resources, information technologies, sales, marketing, business development, M&A, strategic and financial planning, program management and business operations in a wide variety of organizational settings. Michael is a graduate of the following certification programs: Kirkpatrick Four Levels\u2122 Evaluation, Balanced Scorecard Collaborative and Strategy Focused Organization and Office of Strategic Management.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/brandonhall.com\\\/author\\\/michael-rochelle\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market - Brandon Hall Group","description":"UKG, a leading global AI platform unifying HR, pay, and workforce management, announced on December 12, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inova Payroll.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market - Brandon Hall Group","og_description":"UKG, a leading global AI platform unifying HR, pay, and workforce management, announced on December 12, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inova Payroll.","og_url":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/","og_site_name":"Brandon Hall Group","article_published_time":"2025-12-19T15:00:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":858,"height":572,"url":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UKG_14-Dec.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Michael Rochelle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Rochelle","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Rochelle","@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3eced4ed7373c3605d3400c3718cf2f7"},"headline":"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market","datePublished":"2025-12-19T15:00:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/"},"wordCount":1078,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all","keywords":["Inova Payroll","UKG"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/","url":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/","name":"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market - Brandon Hall Group","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all","datePublished":"2025-12-19T15:00:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3eced4ed7373c3605d3400c3718cf2f7"},"description":"UKG, a leading global AI platform unifying HR, pay, and workforce management, announced on December 12, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inova Payroll.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all","width":858,"height":572},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/ukgs-acquisition-of-inova-payroll-a-strategic-win-for-smb-market\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UKG\u2019s Acquisition of Inova Payroll: A Strategic Win for SMB Market"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/","name":"Brandon Hall Group","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3eced4ed7373c3605d3400c3718cf2f7","name":"Michael Rochelle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09eab4bdb914307cd2b15a11be79cb624e4ad549031807fb42f51fb5936d36de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09eab4bdb914307cd2b15a11be79cb624e4ad549031807fb42f51fb5936d36de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09eab4bdb914307cd2b15a11be79cb624e4ad549031807fb42f51fb5936d36de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Rochelle"},"description":"Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Michael was the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder at AC Growth. Michael serves in a variety of roles including overseeing research and advisory support for organizations and solution providers. Michael is one of the company\u2019s principal analysts covering learning and development, talent management, leadership development, HR, talent acquisition and DEI. Michael brings nearly 40 years\u2019 experience in executive leadership roles, including human resources, information technologies, sales, marketing, business development, M&A, strategic and financial planning, program management and business operations in a wide variety of organizational settings. Michael is a graduate of the following certification programs: Kirkpatrick Four Levels\u2122 Evaluation, Balanced Scorecard Collaborative and Strategy Focused Organization and Office of Strategic Management.","url":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/author\/michael-rochelle\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ex6jpoo4khr.exactdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UKG_14-Dec.png?strip=all","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandonhall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}