‘Keeping people at the centre of every decision’: Adam Charania of UBC

When it comes to leading people strategy at one of Canada’s largest universities, Adam Charania brings a powerful combination to the table: bridging the world of numbers with the nuances of people management.

As VP of human resources at UBC, he’s leading HR strategy for over 20,000 employees at a school of 70,000 students.

But Charania’s journey into HR leadership began back at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., where he pursued a dual track in accounting and human resources.

“I learned the hard skills of compensation, money and finance, but also the people side of the business,” he explains. “That has allowed me to speak the language of operations and finance, while always keeping people at the centre of every decision.”

After university, Charania entered chartered accountancy and found the technical training invaluable, but realized his real passion was for people, not numbers.

“I actually enjoyed going to campuses and recruiting the next set of talent for the accounting firm. That was where my passion was,” he recalls.

So, he returned to school for a master’s in industrial relations and HR: “That’s really where I honed those skills, where my passion truly for HR came from.”

This blend of business acumen and people-centricity has defined Charania’s approach ever since.

“It’s been that accumulation of bringing strategic business thinking—knowing how a profit-and-loss statement and a balance sheet work, being able to speak that language with operations people—but also understanding how to translate that to, at scale, what are the impacts on HR strategy, on policy, on how organizations can utilize their people to the best possible way to drive business outcomes.”

HR’s evolving landscape

Furthering this commitment to HR is Charania’s experience as a cancer survivor years ago.

“That experience made me realize many things, including the value of time, the people around us, our humanity, and helping each other be the best versions of ourselves for however long we have,” he says. “Being in HR allows me to do that and … the ability to support organizations and people in their journey through their personal and professional lives is impactful, and hopefully I can help contribute to their success.”

Charania became VP of HR at UBC in December 2024. Over the course of his career, he has worked at several organizations including the Provincial Health Services Authority, British Columbia Automobile Association, the BC provincial government, the Ministry of Labour and the Public Sector Employers’ Council

And if there’s one thing he has learned, it’s that HR is a field defined by change.

“I don’t think anybody could have anticipated the last, especially five or seven years, of HR,” he says. “We couldn’t have planned for a pandemic and everything that came with it. The incredibly exponential rise of hybrid work. The speed at which AI and technology are changing people’s approach to work. And then all the associated mental health and well-being challenges.”

Yet, for all the upheaval, some things remain constant for human resources, he says.

 “How do we attract talent? How do we retain talent? How do we drive engagement of the people we have? The beauty of that is HR is kind of at the middle of almost all of it.”

Workforce planning in shifting landscape

The higher education sector is facing unprecedented pressures, from federal immigration caps to the rapid rise of AI. For Charania, the big question is “How can we help? What can HR do to support our institution?”

One answer has been a refresh of the university’s strategic plan, with a renewed focus on nurturing a strong and vibrant UBC community, he says.

“What our goal is, from an HR lens, partnering with our vice president of students, is what can we do to really nurture that strong, vibrant community on campus in an environment where we have a lot of external factors impacting us?”

A key initiative is the ongoing refresh of the strategic well-being framework, according to Charania.

“One of my aspirations as an HR leader is I would love to see people go home from work in a better state than they came to work that day. That’s both physically but also from a psychological health and safety perspective. How do we bring people to work and they go home feeling fulfilled?”

The data suggests progress, with a fall 2024 survey of roughly 9,000 employees showing that 85% said they were proud to work at UBC, he says: “That for us is a very strong vote we’re doing some things definitely right and supporting our people.”

Becoming a strategic partner at UBC

Charania sees the evolution of HR from a transactional function to a strategic partner as both a personal mission and an institutional imperative.

“In order for HR to be strategic and be a partner, you have to be there for your colleagues and for your teams. One of the things I really try to do, and I know my predecessors have done this as well, is really try to partner with our colleagues to say, ‘What are your objectives? What are you trying to achieve? How can we partner with you to drive those achievements?’”

He describes UBC’s HR structure as both centralized and decentralized, “so we’re deeply connected to the day-to-day while staying aligned with university strategy. That balance helps us be responsive and people-focused.”

Listening is at the heart of this approach, says Charania: “Listening and understanding doesn’t mean you’re always going to agree with what people want. But it’s how can we focus collectively on options, on solutions, on being there early to give good advice, so that we can help to get to a kind of co-created outcome.”

Leadership, AI and employee experience

Looking ahead, Charania identifies leadership development, responsible use of AI, and enhancing the employee experience as top priorities.

“How do we support leadership development? How do we make sure we have great leaders ready so we’re supporting them throughout their entire journey of leadership? How do we use AI responsibly? How do we train people to know [how to use AI]?”

He notes that training around AI is a joint effort with IT, and demand is coming from across the organization.

“Everybody is trying to figure out what the best way to use this is without the fear of causing harm or inadvertently putting something into a system that you shouldn’t be.”

The employee experience is multifaceted, says Charania.

“How do we ensure the employee experience from a technology perspective? How do we use technology to make our lives easier? But then how do we design experiences from the individual out? So not what’s going to make HR’s life better, but what’s going to make the actual employee and manager’s life better?”

Employee benefits at UBC

UBC’s commitment to well-being includes several impressive employee benefits. Charania is especially proud of the university’s family-building benefits program, which supports employees who want to have a family, along with unlimited counseling benefits.

“This allowed continuity of care. It allowed people to stay with the same counsellor should they choose to, and also gave us some confidence in the budgeting process through the tendering in that we were actually saving money as a provider,” he says.

The university’s benefits package includes paramedical professional benefits, healthcare spending accounts, and a new personal spending account. A new Voluntary Retirement Program also launched in May 2025, co-created with the leadership team, says Charania.

“This program allowed eligible faculty and staff to make individual retirement decisions, and was another resource to support leaders as they consider their future academic and operational services, as they look to optimize service delivery, to workforce plan, and for long-term financial sustainability in recognition of the current environment we are in.”

Other offerings include support for home ownership for faculty through $50,000 forgivable interest-free down payment assistance loans and up to $20 million annually in home ownership loans.

Through every initiative, Charania’s approach remains rooted in the belief that people and numbers are not opposing forces, but complementary drivers of organizational success.

“I truly believe that if we take care of our people, they will then take care of, in our case, our students. But in other people’s cases, their customers,” he says.

“So, I think it’s a balance of, yeah, having that understanding of ROI and how we drive success, but also how do we care for our people? Not an either/or, but an and.”