Ryan's New People Chief: A Strategic Play to Fuel Global Growth

PLANO, TX – July 08, 2026 – In the world of professional services, where talent is the ultimate asset, leadership appointments in human resources are rarely just about compliance and payroll. They are bellwethers of strategic intent. The recent announcement that Ryan, the world's largest firm dedicated exclusively to business taxes, has appointed Terry Gaylord as its new Chief People Officer is a case in point. This is not a routine changing of the guard; it's a clear signal that the firm is doubling down on human capital as the primary engine for its next phase of global expansion and technological evolution.

For investors and executives watching the professional services space, this move offers a masterclass in how to prepare a high-performance organization for future challenges. By bringing in a leader with deep expertise in large-scale transformation and AI-driven HR solutions, Ryan is making a strategic bet that the future of tax services will be won by the firm that most effectively integrates human ingenuity with technological prowess.

A Strategic Investment in Global Talent

Ryan is a behemoth in its niche, with over 7,100 professionals serving 74,000 clients across more than 80 countries. Managing and scaling human capital across such a vast and complex footprint is a monumental task. The choice of Terry Gaylord, whose most recent role saw him leading HR for over 10,000 team members across 18 countries at Epiq, is a direct reflection of this global reality. His experience is not in managing static workforces, but in leading what the firm's announcement calls “large-scale organizational transformation initiatives focused on workforce globalization.”

“Terry is an accomplished leader with deep expertise in talent strategy, organizational transformation, and culture development,” said Ginny B. Kissling, Ryan’s Global President and Chief Operating Officer. This statement highlights the core of the strategy: Gaylord is not being brought in for maintenance, but for strategic construction. His mandate, as he joins the Executive Leadership team, is to advance the firm’s talent and culture strategies to support long-term business objectives. For a company that describes itself as “exceptionally well-positioned for future growth,” this means ensuring the talent pipeline, organizational structure, and employee experience are robust enough to handle the pressures of scaling further and faster.

His background, which includes a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, suggests a data-driven, scientific approach to people management. This is a far cry from the traditionally softer side of HR. It’s about understanding the mechanics of high-performing teams and building systems that foster excellence, a critical capability for any knowledge-based firm competing for elite talent.

The AI-Powered People Officer

Perhaps the most forward-looking aspect of Gaylord’s profile is his expertise in human capital technology, including “AI-driven solutions to streamline operations.” This places Ryan at the forefront of a major shift transforming the HR landscape. According to recent industry reports from top consulting firms, the integration of AI into HR is no longer a futuristic concept but a present-day competitive imperative. Companies are rapidly adopting AI to enhance everything from talent acquisition and onboarding to personalized employee development and predictive retention analytics.

By appointing a CPO with this specific skill set, Ryan signals its intent to leverage technology not just for its clients, but for its own internal engine. In practice, this could translate into several key advantages:

• Smarter Talent Acquisition: Using AI to more effectively identify, screen, and attract highly specialized tax professionals in a tight labor market.
• Enhanced Employee Experience: Deploying AI-powered tools and chatbots to provide instant support, automate administrative tasks, and free up the People Group to focus on higher-value strategic initiatives.
• Data-Driven Development: Leveraging analytics to identify skill gaps, recommend personalized training paths through programs like its existing RyanThrive platform, and map out clearer career progressions for its top performers.

This focus on technology aligns with Gaylord’s own assessment of his new home. “Ryan is the singular industry leader in business tax and exceptionally well-positioned for future growth,” he stated. His role will be to ensure the firm's internal people operations are as innovative and efficient as the tax software and services it provides to its Global 5000 clients.

Supercharging an Award-Winning Culture

Crucially, Gaylord is not walking into a turnaround situation. He is joining a company renowned for its culture. Ryan's 'myRyan' work environment—a results-only system that decouples performance from hours worked and empowers employees with flexibility—is legendary in the industry. The firm's trophy case is overflowing, with recent accolades including being named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for the ninth consecutive year and earning a spot on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work for 2026.

This presents a unique challenge and opportunity. Gaylord's task is not to fix a broken culture, but to scale an exceptional one. How do you maintain the integrity of a people-first, high-trust environment like 'myRyan' while adding thousands of new employees across different continents and integrating sophisticated new technologies? This is where his expertise in culture development becomes paramount.

The strategy will likely involve using technology to enhance, not replace, the human elements of the culture. AI can be used to gather better feedback on employee sentiment, ensure recognition is distributed fairly, and help managers become better coaches. The goal is to build a technological scaffold that supports and strengthens the firm's “culture grounded in values,” a quality Gaylord himself cited as a key reason for joining.

As one analyst in the HR technology space noted, the most successful modern CPOs are those who can “weave technology into the cultural fabric of an organization without smothering it.” Gaylord's background in both psychology and technology makes him uniquely suited for this delicate but essential task. His success will be measured not just in efficiency gains, but in his ability to preserve and amplify the very culture that makes Ryan a magnet for top talent in the first place.