Team Q&A: Heather Droel – VP of Human Resources

There is no challenge too great for our VP of Human Resources, Heather Droel. From continuing her education during the pandemic to her personal recycling initiatives, Heather shares the company’s vision to make the world a better place. Join us in welcoming Heather to the Virtual Peaker team!

How did your previous life prepare you for Virtual Peaker?

In 2008, I joined a start-up in the renewable energy industry. The challenge and excitement of working for a start-up company, combined with the culture we created as a team, is what led me to stay there for 15 years. When I decided to look for a new opportunity, it was extremely important to me that I find a company that embodied the culture and excitement of a start-up company again. I was able to find that with Virtual Peaker while staying in the industry that I have grown to love. I like to say that this is my opportunity to go back, knowing what I know now, and do things better.

Tell us about your role at Virtual Peaker.

I’m the Vice President of Human Resources here at Virtual Peaker. In this role, I have the opportunity to provide guidance to HR operations. I’m also responsible for setting, enforcing, and evaluating legally compliant human resources policies, procedures, and best practices, and identifying and implementing long-range strategic talent management goals. One of my favorite parts of this role is the opportunity to work with employees on their professional growth and development.

How do you personally engage in sustainability efforts?

In my personal life, I engage in sustainability efforts by recycling responsibly. It is not only something that’s required by our city but also something my husband and I take very seriously. I am the granddaughter of a dairy farmer and am an advocate and supporter of all farmers. I shop at the local farmers market as much as possible.

What can you tell us about yourself?

I live in Eden Prairie, Minnesota with my husband of thirty years. We have three amazing sons and a new daughter-in-law. I also have a one-year-old, 120# Bullmastiff named Mabel. I am an avid walker, reader, and baseball fan. My husband and I love spending time working on our house, which was built in 1917. It has been a labor of love that we have been working on for the past 4 years. My love of history has led to the addition of anything historic we find on the property being implemented into the house in some way. This includes glass bottles from the late 1800s as well as old horseshoes found during some work being done in the yard. In the middle of the pandemic, I decided to go back to school, and this past May I graduated from Purdue University with my Master of Science in Human Resource Management.

About The Author

Bill is a serial entrepreneur with a PhD from UC Berkeley in Controls and Artificial Intelligence and 10 years of experience with high performance residential energy management and connected appliances. He was previously at GE as an Advanced Systems Engineer in the Connected Home Software Group, but left that role in May 2014 to pursue entrepreneurship full time.

Bill grew up in Louisville and returned with his family in 2010 after a long stint in the San Francisco Bay Area. He loves Louisville and is working to make it a better and more attractive city for high tech startups.

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