Join us for an unforgettable evening celebrating excellence in Human Resources at the 2025 Nova Scotia Professional HR Awards. This prestigious event recognizes outstanding HR professionals across the province who have demonstrated leadership, innovation, and a commitment to making a positive impact on their organizations and the HR community.

Whether you are a seasoned HR leader or a newcomer to the field, the awards are an opportunity to celebrate and gain insight to the achievements that are advancing HR. This year HONOUR THE PAST AND SHAPE THE FUTURE of HR! Take in the expert panel with some of Nova Scotia's top leaders in HR as you enjoy a beautiful dinner before we cap off the night with the awards ceremony. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a night filled with recognition, learning, and inspiration! 

Agenda

About the panel

Join a distinguished panel of senior HR leaders as they reflect on the milestones and challenges of the past year and provide insights into emerging trends shaping the future of HR in 2025. This engaging discussion will explore how the HR profession continues to evolve while celebrating the achievements and lessons that define its foundation. Gain valuable perspectives to inspire your own journey in this dynamic field.

Layla Khalil is a seasoned human resources executive with over 15 years of experience in driving transformational change, fostering employee engagement, and shaping inclusive workplace cultures. As the Vice President of People & Culture at East Coast Credit Union, she leads strategic workforce initiatives that align with the organization’s priorities, ensuring employees feel valued, empowered, and motivated to succeed.

Layla holds a Master of Business Administration from Dalhousie University and a certificate in Strategic HR Leadership from Cornell University. She has served as Board Chair for CPHR Nova Scotia and as a Board Director for CPHR Canada, contributing to the advancement of the HR profession nationally. Her dedication to excellence has been recognized through the HR Award of Excellence and, most recently, the HR Team of the Year Award. 

Committed to continuous learning and industry collaboration, Layla remains actively engaged with the HR community, the Credit Union system, and professional networks to stay at the forefront of emerging trends and best practices.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Layla is passionate about mentoring the next generation of HR leaders and giving back to her community through volunteer work. An avid traveler, she enjoys exploring new cultures and cuisines with her husband. 

Passionate about developing HR standards and practices that foster a culture of highly engaged and motivated teams, Carol thrives on building creative networks, partnerships, and sharing best practices over meaningful coffee conversations. With an open approach to recruitment initiatives and employee programs, she actively contributes to community support and advocates for higher education and training in her industry.

Carol's dedication has been recognized with several accolades, including the Crystal Award for Excellence in Human Resources Leadership from the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia (TIANS), the Employer Business Award from the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) for recruitment initiatives with immigrants, the CPHR Award of Excellence, and the CPHR HR Team of the Year award.

She also serves as an active board member for Safety Services Nova Scotia (SSNS) and the Governance Committee with CPHR NS, while also contributing to the Hospitality Human Resources Committee (HHRC), ISANS Employer Focus Group, and the Halifax Partnership Employer Feedback Channel.

Outside of work, she enjoys staying active with spin classes, hiking, softball, biking, and spending quality time with family.

Based in Halifax, Robert Armstrong is the Acting Regional Director of HR at Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Atlantic Region. His team is responsible for resourcing, labour relations, employee and organizational assistance programs, disability management, and occupational health and safety and a wide variety of workplace programs and initiatives including diversity, equity and inclusion, official languages, learning and development, workplace wellness, recognition, and talent management.

Before returning to PSPC, Robert spent 11 years at the Canada School of Public Service working on employee and organizational development across departments. His career has been anchored in the regions, with early stints at National Defence and Statistics Canada. He has years of experience working in virtual and dispersed teams, and continues to adapt as the hybrid workplace evolves.

Robert has a reputation as a skilled facilitator and moderator in both official languages, and is called upon often to host learning conversations for interdepartmental colleagues. He is an active member of numerous federal committees, networks and working groups, and is federal member-at-large on the board of IPAC NS.

Kerry Lynn is the Director of People and Culture for MacQuarries Pharmasave Group, a group of 16 pharmacies across mainland NS. Here, she has happily dedicated 20 years to fostering a positive workplace environment. Passionate about HR leadership, she serves on the Complaints and Discipline Committee for CPHRNS and previously spent six years on the CPHRNS Board. Just because HR isn’t busy enough, said no one ever, she is also a casual consultant for A&A Consulting based out of Calgary.

In addition to her corporate role, Kerry Lynn has contributed to HR education by teaching at NSCC and continues to engage with students as a guest speaker at the Sydney campus. Her career began in the hospitality industry, spending 11 years traveling across Canada with hotel chains like Delta and Fairmont before settling in Stellarton for love. Insert sighs and eye rolls here!

A proud graduate of Saint Mary’s University, she embraced campus life as the university’s mascot for two years, which should come as no surprise to those that know her. She also served as VP of Student Affairs.

On a personal note, Kerry Lynn loves engaging with people, being active with any sport or activity she can and loves being outside in the woods with her dogs! Ok and her husband too. She firmly believes in Unicorns and thinks one day she will become the Pickleball Champion of the world.  If there had to be a favorite quote…and there are many…one would be ‘Be somebody, that makes everybody, feel like somebody’.

Pricing 

 Students and retired members get $50 off individual tickets and $100 off bundle 1 tickets