Lois Heo’s primary focus over the last 16 years has been to build, cultivate and innovate programs with a total talent management philosophy.

As the director of the contingent workforce program at Edwards Lifesciences, Heo is in the midst of driving the global expansion of the program.

The vision of the global program at Edwards Lifesciences is expanding beyond staff augmentation and resource tracking to include professional/consulting SOW services, small businesses and IC vendors.

“Our program is currently a midsize program,” Heo says. “However, we anticipate growing within the next year.”

Heo is particularly proud of the launch of Edwards Lifesciences’ Small Business and Independent Consultant program, which focuses on building an alternate sourcing channel and pipeline within the company’s CW program to have options beyond the traditional staffing model.

“This approach has elevated our independent consultant program to a whole new strategic level,” she says. “I want to emphasize ‘program’ because historically, companies view their independent consultant talent as another population to manage from the compliance perspective.”

Looking ahead, Heo plans to focus on building toward a total talent management strategy with the next generation of Edwards Lifesciences’ CW program by managing extended workforce talent categories under one program globally and adding direct sourcing to the program roadmap to ensure multi-channel sourcing options for fulfilling hiring needs.