Marie (DeCrescenzo) Wehrung took her passion for working with people—one of the things that appealed to her about a potential career in medicine when she completed her undergraduate degree in biological sciences—and earned a master’s degree in human resource development. In her first HR role, she facilitated new hire orientation prior to relocating and taking a position at Rice University in Houston.
At Rice, Marie ran the employment office where she was charged with developing a new hire orientation program. “That gave me an opportunity to dabble in training,” she explained. “At the same time, I realized there was a hunger and thirst for training among the university staff (no formal training program existed at the time).” Training per se wasn’t part of anyone’s job, Marie continued, so it happened by fits and starts. That was true for about six years when a series of events led to the realization that not only was a training function necessary, but it required a dedicated budget and staffing line to run it.
After developing a training program from the ground up that, over the years, mirrored that of the talent development field, Marie’s current program focuses on organizational and professional development, and includes delivering select, high-impact classes as well as more bite-sized bits of learning online. The development also features self-directed learning and coaching opportunities as well as consultation services to campus departments, and assists them with tools and techniques to internally solve problems.
Since 1991, ATD (beginning when it was still ASTD) has been a critical part of the evolution of those development offerings. “Over the course of my career there hasn’t been much training infrastructure around me,” Marie said, “so ASTD/ATD provided vital resources that supported me in my training and talent development work.”
The association has been a bellwether of change in the profession and “helped me stay in sync with the field.” For example, through her attendance at the International Conference and EXPO over the years, Marie has become familiar with several vendors that have helped her and the university. And the sessions, including a concurrent session offered by the Forum on design thinking, have been important to her work.
Exposure to the ATD Forum steered Marie to joining the group, which created many new opportunities including networking, benchmarking members that host a Lab, educational benefits such as certificate programs, and sharing of best practices. Through the years, her involvement with the Forum has evolved to her taking on leadership positions, serving on its Advisory Group and in facilitation roles at Labs and at the ATD Conference, and internally using innovative tools and techniques like design thinking methods learned in the consortium. Recently, her one-woman training shop has doubled in size.
One of the changes Marie notes about the training and talent development field has been a shift to effectiveness and impact. “In my early days at Rice, my focus was on the numbers of classes I offered and ‘butts in seats’ that attended.” She continues, “As the profession shifted its attention to results, microlearning, online learning, and other trends that complement instructor-led learning, I’ve had access to resources through ASTD/ATD that supported me in making those same shifts in my own program.”
Marie’s characterization of ATD as innovative, forward-thinking, and its role as a partner is reflected in her passion and excitement about what the future holds: “I’m most excited about the partnership that talent development professionals can play in achieving organizational results. People are at the heart of organizations, which will be only as successful as their people are effective in their roles.” Marie concludes that because of the role talent development pros contribute to the effectiveness of people, and consequentially the business results, “Talent development is not optional—it’s essential.”
