Alumni and Friends Directory

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Biography

Samantha Bouma (Parsons) grew up in Eagle River, Alaska. Her first "real" job was managing a fireworks company, which she continued to do through undergrad and grad school. In this role she was a true "General Manager" where she was able to dabble in all aspects of the business and begin to learn what a real HR business partner looks like. Through this experience she learned first hand how much of an impact HR has on an organization.

Samantha completed her undergraduate at Florida State University in Finance. After graduation, she began her dual masters degrees in Human Resources and Business Administration at Utah State University.

Through the MHR program, Samantha landed an internship with Honeywell in Minneapolis, MN. Upon completion of the dual MHR/MBA, she returned full-time to Honeywell in their Pathways Leadership Development (LDP) Program. Her first role was as an HR Generalist supporting Finance, Customer Service, Sales, and a couple business lines that are now part of the Resideo company, which Honeywell spun off in 2018. Her second rotation took her to Metropolis, IL at a Uranium hexafluoride manufacturing facility; Samantha gained her first union experience during this time. To wrap up her time in the LDP, Samantha was an Integration Leader for Honeywell's $1B acquisition of Intelligrated. Upon finishing the rotation program, Samantha took on an expat assignment based out of Rolle, Switzerland supporting the Integrated Supply Chain organization for Honeywell's Aerospace business across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India. After 15 months in Switzerland (and exploring 15 countries), Samantha decided it was time to return state-side and took an HR Project Manager role in Mergers & Acquisitions. In this position, she was responsible for all the HR Operations aspects of acquisitions, divestitures, and spin offs. In March of 2020, Samantha was promoted to HR Director where she maintains M&A team responsibility, and took on the additional HR Project Management Organization (PMO) focused on turning leaders' big HR innovation ideas into reality through thoughtful execution.

On the personal side, Samantha married her best friend, Mike in June, of 2020, and they spent most of the 2020 "lock down" wake surfing in their non-work hours.

Q. Why did you choose the Huntsman School Master of Human Resources Program?
A. I always knew I wanted to get my MBA to expand my business knowledge, I loved that Utah State offered the dual program with the MHR that allowed me to really specialize and differentiate myself with the HR expertise with more than an "emphasis" but a full blow masters degree!

Q. What was your favorite part of the Huntsman School MHR Program?
A. All of it! I loved how invested the staff and Professors are in the students success, the coursework is focused on real world applications, and my classmates became great friends and a fantastic professional network!

Q. What advice would you give current MHR students or recent graduates interested in pursuing a career in HR?
A. Get as much experience in as many different ways as possible! Any role or experience you can get (HR or not) will make you a more well rounded HR professional.

Q. What are your 2-3 main job duties?
A. Turn HR innovation into reality! My organization is responsible for executing the top strategic HR priority projects that make HR easier for everyone!