A human resources leader with a depth of experience managing large and complex organizations has been selected as San Bernardino County’s new director of Human Resources.
Cindi Peterson Tompkins begins leading Human Resources on Oct. 31. She will be in charge of providing services to the County’s 22,000 employees and managing a staff of 143 and a budget of $18 million.
“We are proud to have someone of Cindi’s background join the County,” said James Ramos, chairman of the Board of Supervisors. “I believe she will bring a wealth of experience and ideas to benefit our employees.”
Tompkins comes to the County following 13 years at Esri in Redlands, which has more than 3,000 employees globally. Tompkins’ career with Esri includes multiple director roles and includes leadership of several functions including operations, human resources, global benefits, compliance, privacy, ethics, purchasing and safety functions for the $900 million high-tech software and services organization.
Prior to Esri, Tompkins was vice president of human resources, facilities, and corporate strategic staffing at Avery Dennison Corporation in Brea from 1992 to 2003, where she was a corporation staff officer. Tompkins also has government-sector experience from her time as Human Resources Director at the City of West Covina in 2002. She began her career in human resources at General Dynamics Air Defense Systems Division in Rancho Cucamonga in 1987.
Tompkins has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and finance from California State University, San Bernardino. She completed the Human Resources Executive Program at Stanford University and has a certificate in employee benefits from the International Federation of Employee Benefits and was awarded the compliance and ethics professional certification from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.
Tompkins served as a past board member of the Prudential Advisory Board for the Prudential Corporation and was an instructor at the University of California, Riverside Extension where she taught employee and labor relations and human resources strategy. She also was a human relations commissioner, a charitable coalition board member, and served on the public space and facility naming committee – all for the City of Redlands.
Tompkins, a long-term resident of the County of San Bernardino, currently resides in Redlands. She and her husband of 26 years have two sons, both attending local colleges. Tompkins said she is excited and honored to be serving both the employees and people of San Bernardino County.