2026 Columbus HR Showcase: The Recipe for HR Success

There may not be one perfect recipe for building a great workplace. But strong leadership, smart HR strategy, a healthy culture, and trusted relationships are some key ingredients. On August 28, Ahola Payroll & HR Solutions brought clients, partners, HR professionals, and business leaders together for the 2026 Columbus HR Showcase: The Recipe for HR Success.

Throughout the morning, attendees heard from business leaders, HR professionals, benefits and retirement experts, and fellow Ahola clients as they explored practical approaches to some of today's most important workplace challenges.

Check out the event's video recap and photo album below!

People, Leadership and Culture with Jason Campbell of Condado Tacos

The morning began with a keynote fireside chat featuring Jason Campbell of Condado Tacos, in conversation with Ahola Executive Vice President Sonya Ahola James.

Their conversation explored Jason's career journey, employee experience, developing managers, scaling culture, connecting people strategy with business strategy and leading employees through periods of growth and change.

One of the biggest themes was simple: people strategy is business strategy.

Recruiting great people is only part of the equation. Organizations also need managers who can lead effectively, a culture employees actually experience and HR leaders who understand how people decisions connect to broader business goals.

Watching the Temperature on HR Risk

Next came Watch the Temperature: Managing HR Risk and Policy in 2026, bringing together three experts with different perspectives on the risks employers face:

Brian Hanna, AIF®, CPFA® — President, Retirement Plan Services
Jamie Charlton, CFP® — SVP of Sales, Employee Benefits
Laurie Geiger, PHR — HR Consulting Manager, Ahola Payroll & HR Solutions

The panel explored employment and regulatory developments, employee benefits, financial wellness, HR policies, manager practices and the gaps that can develop between what an organization's policies say and what actually happens in the workplace.

The message for employers? Don't wait until an HR or compliance issue reaches a boiling point.

Proactive reviews, strong policies, consistent management practices and access to the right expertise can help organizations identify potential problems before they become bigger ones.

Mixing Strategy & Culture for HR Success

The morning then shifted from listening to participating with Mixing Strategy & Culture for HR Success, an interactive workshop centered on real-world HR situations.

Rather than simply presenting HR best practices, attendees were challenged to consider an important question:

What would you do?

The conversations demonstrated why HR decisions aren't always black and white.

A decision may be technically compliant but have unintended consequences for culture. A manager's approach may make sense operationally while creating employee-relations risk. And sometimes the best answer requires balancing compliance, business priorities, employee needs, risk and company culture.

That's where strong HR leadership requires more than knowing the rules. It requires judgment, context and the ability to understand how a decision will affect both the employee and the business.

Hearing What Works From Ahola Clients

One of the most valuable perspectives of the morning came directly from the leaders navigating these challenges every day.

During the client panel, Cooking Up Success, Ahola Vice President of Sales Christy Ernst facilitated a peer-to-peer conversation featuring:

• Brian Packert — Executive Director, The Faculty Club at The Ohio State University
• Jackie Avery — Chief Administrative Officer, The Eye Physicians
• LaVerne Fudge-Williamson — VP, Business Operations, Diversified Systems

The panelists shared candid perspectives on their organizations, changing employee expectations, the role managers play in employee experience, workplace culture and leading people through change.

They also discussed their relationships with Ahola and the value of having a trusted outside payroll and HR resource available when questions or challenges arise.

Those real-world experiences reinforced an important idea from throughout the Showcase: there isn't one solution that works for every workplace.

Strong organizations learn from experience, listen to their people, develop their managers and know when to bring additional expertise to the table.

Bringing the Right People to the Table

That idea is also at the heart of why Ahola hosts the HR Showcase.

Ahola supports businesses across the employee lifecycle—from hiring and onboarding to time and attendance, payroll and benefits administration, HR and compliance, engagement and learning.

But technology and services are only part of what makes a successful HR partnership.

It's also about relationships.

Bringing Ahola leaders and subject-matter experts together with clients, partners and business leaders gives attendees an opportunity to ask questions, exchange ideas and connect directly with people who understand the challenges employers are facing.

The Columbus HR Showcase was a great example of what can happen when you put the right people around the table.

Thank you to Jason Campbell, Brian Hanna, Jamie Charlton, Laurie Geiger, Terri Wilfong, Christy Ernst, Brian Packert, Jackie Avery and LaVerne Fudge Williamson, along with all of our Ahola team members, partners, clients and guests who helped make the 2026 Columbus HR Showcase a success.

There may not be one perfect recipe for HR success. But when you combine the right people, thoughtful strategy, strong leadership, a healthy culture and trusted partners, you have the ingredients for a stronger organization.

Ready to strengthen your organization's HR strategy? Ahola's payroll, HR technology and HR consulting experts are here to help.