Jessica Artz didn’t plan a career in HR. She trained as a psychologist and took her first job out of school in a mental health crisis unit, leading a team of case managers. Recruiting and developing those people turned out to be the part she loved, and once she saw it, she didn’t look back.
She moved into recruiting at a staffing agency, then into her first formal HR role. What pulled her in wasn’t hiring itself but the business behind it: how a single hire shaped project financials, government contracts and the bottom line. She kept taking jobs at companies where HR didn’t yet have a seat at the table.
Today, as chief human resources officer at ViaPath Technologies, Artz is doing that same work at scale. The mission also hits close to home. Her stepfather, a corrections officer, was seriously injured on the job, and in 2022 she launched the ViaPath Foundation to support children with an incarcerated parent.
Here, Artz talks about how she ended up in HR, the priorities shaping workforce strategy at ViaPath, and why mentorship and networking matter so much in GovCon.
Can you provide a brief overview of your professional background and career progression?
I didn’t originally set out to work in HR. Early on, I thought I would become a psychologist and eventually run my own practice. After graduating, I took a role in a mental health crisis unit, where I led a team of case managers and was responsible for recruiting and developing them. That experience was a turning point for me — I realized how much I loved leading people, helping them grow, and building strong teams.
I had also spent the two summers before graduation working as a recruiter for a staffing agency, so once I recognized how much I enjoyed that side of the work, pursuing a career in HR felt like a natural next step.
From there, I moved into my first formal HR role as a recruiter, and that’s where my perspective really started to broaden. I became fascinated not just by hiring itself, but by the business behind it — how hiring decisions impact project financials, government contracts, and overall profitability. That experience helped shape me into a much more business-minded HR leader.
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work across many areas of HR, including business partnering, talent acquisition, learning and development, employee relations, total rewards, and organizational design and effectiveness. Throughout that journey, I’ve consistently been drawn to roles where HR didn’t yet have a strong voice at the table, and I’ve found a lot of purpose in helping elevate the function into a true strategic partner.
Today, as Chief Human Resources Officer at ViaPath Technologies, I focus on aligning HR with the broader goals of the business and ensuring the function helps drive meaningful outcomes. What drew me to ViaPath was the opportunity to show what a strategic, business-focused HR organization can really do — not just support the business, but help it outperform. I saw a lot of opportunity here, and that made the role especially exciting to step into.
Why was this the path you chose, and how influential was it to your career?
I chose this path because I’ve always believed that people are the real differentiator in any organization, especially in environments where the work is challenging — and the stakes are high. Early in my career, I saw firsthand how thoughtful engagement, clear expectations, and strong leadership can make a real difference — not only in business results, but in the day-to-day experience of employees. Once I saw that impact, I knew this was the work I wanted to keep doing.
I’ve also been intentional about pursuing roles where HR wasn’t already deeply embedded in the business strategy, because those were the environments where I felt I could make the biggest difference. I’ve always been motivated by the opportunity to work alongside business leaders, demonstrate the value HR can bring at an enterprise level, and help shape decisions that positively affect both the organization and its people.
Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who helped shape how I think about leadership and HR. One piece of advice that has stayed with me is that if you can balance the needs of the organization with the needs of the employee, you’ll be successful. That idea has really stayed with me, and it continues to guide how I lead HR at ViaPath today.
Do you have a personal connection to the current mission you support?
Yes — this mission is personal for me. My stepfather was a corrections officer and was seriously injured on the job, so I’ve seen up close the risks that come with working in these environments. Because of that, being part of a company that brings technology into correctional systems in ways that can help reduce violence, improve safety, and support better outcomes feels deeply meaningful to me.
I’m also passionate about the broader human impact of this work. I’ve seen how incarceration affects families, especially children, and how lasting those effects can be. That part is especially heartbreaking to me, and it’s one of the reasons this mission resonates so strongly.
In 2022, I led the effort to launch the ViaPath Foundation, focusing on supporting children impacted by incarceration. We’re now closing out our fourth grantmaking cycle, and seeing the impact of that work has been incredibly rewarding. It’s a reminder that what we do extends beyond business outcomes — it can make a real difference in people’s lives.
What are your current top priorities and responsibilities? How do these relate to your company’s overall mission/growth strategy?
My role is centered on ensuring the HR function is aligned with — and actively enabling — our broader business strategy. Right now, two of my biggest priorities are workforce strategy and organizational readiness. We operate in an industry that is constantly evolving, and our customers’ needs and expectations can shift very quickly, so it’s critical that we have the right people in the right roles and that we’re preparing the organization for where the business is going next.
A big part of that is making sure we continue to build and retain a highly skilled workforce. Our industry has a steep learning curve, so we invest heavily in tailored, function-specific onboarding to help employees get up to speed quickly and position them to deliver strong service and support to our customers. Just as important, though, is creating an environment where people want to stay and grow. I believe our employee value proposition, our culture, and our connection to both the company’s mission and the ViaPath Foundation’s work all play important roles in retention.
Another major focus for me is leadership development and building a strong internal pipeline for the future. We launched our first High Potential Employee cohort last year, and it was incredibly successful, so now we’re working to expand that program and introduce a more formal leadership development approach. For me, all of this ties back to the same goal: ensuring our workforce strategy is fully aligned with our current and future business needs so we can continue to strengthen our core business while also supporting growth into adjacent markets.
Where do you and your team see growth opportunities in your current field or portfolio you support, or what do you anticipate to be your customers’ top pain points?
We see significant growth opportunities in solutions that improve outcomes across the full incarceration journey — from intake through reentry. Our customers are being asked to do more with limited resources while also demonstrating meaningful progress in areas like rehabilitation, recidivism reduction, and family connectivity. That creates a real need for solutions that support both operational efficiency and better human outcomes.
Some of the biggest pain points our customers are facing today include:
● Staffing constraints within correctional facilities
● The need for more effective rehabilitative and educational programming
● Rising expectations for transparency and accountability
● A growing focus on digital literacy and education as essential to successful reentry
From my perspective as an HR leader, my focus is on ensuring we have the talent, culture, and capabilities to meet those needs. That means attracting people with the right expertise, supporting them with strong development opportunities and benefits, and creating an inclusive environment where they can do their best work. When we do that well, we put the business in a much stronger position to respond to our customers’ challenges and support their long-term goals.
How are you and your team planning to address/prepare for these opportunities?
From an HR standpoint, preparing for these opportunities starts with talent, capability building, and alignment. We’re focused on recruiting people who bring both deep domain expertise and fresh perspectives from adjacent industries. Because this can be a challenging industry with a negative reputation, we’ve been very intentional about defining and communicating a strong employee value proposition to attract and retain the talent we need.
We’re also making meaningful investments in continuous learning and development. That includes enhancing our LMS, building more curated learning paths, and continuing to strengthen leadership and high-potential development to build a strong bench for the future.
Just as important, we’re focused on supporting employees more holistically. We want our people to feel equipped not only to do great work, but also to manage the demands of life outside of work. Programs like Calm access for employees and their households, flexible time off, Care.com, and a strong 401(k) through Fidelity are all part of that approach.
Finally, we’re placing a strong emphasis on cross-functional collaboration and employee voice. We’re working to ensure that product, technology, operations, and customer-facing teams are aligned on the same mission and metrics, while also listening closely to employees — especially those closest to our
customers. For me, that combination of strong talent, ongoing development, employee support, and alignment is what will best position us to take advantage of the opportunities ahead.
How important is mentorship & networking in GovCon?
Mentorship and networking are incredibly important in GovCon. It’s a complex, highly regulated, and very relationship-driven environment, and in my experience, you can only learn so much from documents or processes alone. A lot of the real understanding comes from hearing how others have navigated challenges, built relationships, and made decisions in the moments that matter.
Mentorship has been influential in my own career. I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who challenged my thinking, shared hard-won lessons, and advocated for me at key points along the way. One mentor taught me the importance of communicating concisely and in business terms with senior leaders, while also keeping the balance between organizational needs and employee needs front and center. That advice has stayed with me and has shaped not only how I lead, but also how I think about building programs and approaches that are both sustainable for the business and meaningful for employees.
As I’ve grown in my career, it’s also become very important to me to pay that forward. I’ve tried to share what I’ve learned with others in the HR space and support the next generation of leaders. In fact, that mentor’s son is now on my HR team, and mentoring him alongside other HR leaders has felt especially meaningful.
Networking has been just as valuable. Even in the few months I’ve been part of the HR Council, I’ve already made meaningful connections beyond the relationships I had built previously in this space. For me, those connections matter because they create opportunities to learn, exchange ideas, and stay attuned to how others think about similar challenges. That has been really valuable.
What is something most people don’t know about you personally?
Something a lot of people don’t know about me is how much I love to cook. Baking is a completely different story — and not one I’m especially good at. I’m the kind of person who can look in the refrigerator or freezer, see what’s there, and come up with a meal on the spot, which I really enjoy.
It’s also become something special I get to share with my two sons, Preston and Zachary, because they both love cooking with me. Those moments in the kitchen together have been really meaningful.
I’ve even recently learned how to butterfly lobster tails, which I’m pretty proud of — although somehow, I still can’t make a deviled egg. So, my cooking confidence definitely has its limits.