Erin Moran
At a glance:
As Union Square Hospitality Group’s first-ever Chief Culture Officer, Erin Moran is responsible for strengthening and growing USHG’s culture of Enlightened Hospitality, and overseeing all aspects of the employee experience.Erin has spent most of her 25-year career dedicated to developing leaders who create inspiring work environments that enable people to be fulfilled while also achieving extraordinary business results. Erin Moran was Union Square Hospitality Group’s Chief Culture Officer for 7 years and in that capacity, she was responsible for overseeing and enhancing all aspects of the employee experience Based in New York City, USHG created Shake Shack, operates 27 restaurants, runs a multifaceted catering and events business, has earned 28 James Beard Awards, 3 Michelin Stars and is best known for its culture of “Enlightened Hospitality.” USHG’s Founder and CEO Danny Meyer, author of the NYT best-seller, Setting the Table and recognized as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, hired Erin following a year-long collaboration between USHG and the global research and consulting firm, Great Place to Work. Erin spent nearly a decade with Great Place to Work, where she studied leading workplace cultures, helped produce the “Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For” list and advised clients on how to improve workplace culture. Currently, Erin is the inaugural Executive Director of the Dr. Nancy Grasmick Leadership Institute, anchored at Towson University, an organization dedicated to positively impacting the region and beyond through results-producing and ethical leadership development. Developed by leaders, for leaders, the institute offers a values-driven and robust portfolio of offerings for individuals and organizations that create transformational outcomes for leaders at any level in their careers and across all industries. Erin has a series of awards to her credit, including being named as an Influential Women by I 95 Business (2021), one of the Top 50 Women Innovators in the Restaurant Industry (2019), a two-time honoree through the National Restaurant Association Power List of Culture Champions (2017 and 2019) and Women’s Foodservice Forum Top Women in Metro New York Foodservice & Hospitality (2018). Erin is a Baltimore native and holds a B.S. from St. Joseph’s University, an M.B.A. from the Thunderbird School of International Management and has lived and worked in 5 different countries.
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Cultivating a Culture of Hospitality
Drawing on her experiences as the first-ever Chief Culture Officer with Union Square Hospitality Group and Senior Vice-President with Great Place to Work, Erin shares her expertise in how to cultivate a company culture that delivers exceptional hospitality. In today’s landscape, employees expect more than a paycheck from their jobs: the best talent in any field is inspired by purpose-driven work. Erin discusses the steps any organization must make to articulate their mission and values, hire and retain the best talent and foster authentic engagement among their teams. -
Cultivating a Vibrant and Winning Culture
Cultivating a vibrant and winning workplace culture is essential to achieving sustainable competitive advantage. According to Bain & Co., companies that create a winning culture are 3.7 times more likely to be top performers. A primary driver for this is because in great cultures, human potential is unleashed and people are inspired to go above and beyond in service of an organizations’ goals. Drawing on her experiences as the first-ever Chief Culture Officer with Union Square Hospitality Group and Senior Vice-President with Great Place to Work, Erin shares her expertise in how to cultivate a company culture that attracts and retains best a diverse and highly talented workforce. -
Inspiring a Culture of Innovation
In an era of accelerated speed of change, the need for innovation has never been greater. And simultaneously, we are all experiencing increased levels of volatility, ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty- which makes it incredibly challenging to inspire innovation. Erin led some of the most ground-breaking initiatives as Union Square Hospitality Group’s Chief Culture Officer, including Hospitality Included (elimination of tipping), Paid Parental Leave and Diversity, Equity and inclusion programs. Learn from Erin about how USHG went about unlocking the potential of their people to identify, accept and embrace innovative programs. -
Developing Cultural Glue: Company Values that Matter
Most organizations have a set of values that they promote on their websites and on posters. How does a company go through the process of defining and communicating Values that truly matter and add value to the organization? As the former Chief Culture Officer of Union Square Hospitality Group, Erin led the process of defining the values of USHG and ensuring that they became the cultural glue that helps to hold a very diverse suit of businesses together. Erin shares the process that they went through, the mistakes that were made along the way and how the Values became a cultural bedrock of the organization. -
Building Trust in a Virtual Work Environment
The pandemic created a forced experiment for companies to accelerate their plans to enable their
people to work remotely. And this experiment has reset non-essential employees’ expectations moving
forward. According to a FlexJobs’ research study, 58% of respondents want to be full-time remote
employees, while 39% desire a hybrid work environment, resulting in 97% of employees desiring some
form of remote work. That same survey also found that 58% of respondents would ‘absolutely’ look for
a new job if they cannot continue remote work.
Most leaders express concerns that the virtual work environment makes it even more challenging for
them to build trust, inspire performance and cultivate a strong culture. This session will share best
practices and practical tools for leaders to be more prepared to lead effectively in the virtual world. -
Cultivating a Vibrant and Winning Culture
According to Bain & Co., companies that create a winning culture are 3.7 times more likely to be top
performers - in great cultures, human potential is unleashed and people are inspired to go above and
beyond in service of an organization’s goals. And the environment within which we are leading is even
more fast-paced, complex, and nuanced than ever before so leaders need to be prepared to lead
differently to cultivate a vibrant and winning culture.
This presentation will share key principles, techniques, and tools to support leaders in more effectively
attracting, engaging, and retaining talent. -
How to Effectively ‘Sell’ Your Company to Prospective Employees
The proverbial war for talent is on. Resignations are up 23% since pre-pandemic , 40% of employees are
thinking of quitting their jobs 69% of employers report that it’s hard to fill open positions. Top talent
has so many options available to them for where to work across so many different industries. This
session will offer practical strategies for how to cut through all of the noise and effectively “sell”
ourselves to attract best-in-class talent. This presentation can be customized to deliver to any audience, however, it is most applicable to leaders
in HR and leading Talent Acquisition efforts. -
Leading Courageously: Advancing More Women in Leadership
McKinsey’s Annual Women in the Workplace Report indicates that women represent only 24% of C-suite
positions and achieving gender parity across all levels of leadership and across all sectors could add $13 trillion to the global economy by 2030. This presentation will share data and insights about the
dynamics at play and offers all genders thought starters to lead more courageously and proactively
support the advancement of women in the workplace. -
Leadership at All Levels
Most people associate leadership with a position and/or authority when in reality, anyone within an
organization can be a leader. In this inspirational presentation, we share best practices and practical
recommendations for how individuals throughout an organization can demonstrate leadership skills and
influence positive changes.
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