Selyn Hong

Selyn Hong is NPR's Chief People Officer. Hong focuses on setting and overseeing the execution of NPR's people priorities and strategies. She is passionate about driving a positive employee experience and championing a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at NPR. She is committed to ensuring fairness and transparency in NPR's core people practices and processes, and to building and supporting strong, trusting relationships at NPR.

Previously, Hong served as NPR's Vice President of Human Resources and, before that, NPR's Senior Director of Employee & Labor Relations and Investigations. During her tenure in those roles, Hong led NPR's team of HR Business Partners and Generalists, oversaw NPR's employee and labor relations departments and served as a leader on NPR's Crisis Management Team during the pandemic. She has been a key player in many deliberations and decisions involving how NPR supports employees and people operations during a global crisis.

During her time at NPR, Hong has proposed and implemented a number of programs and policies to align with NPR's strategic people priorities. She has advocated for policies and programs that promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at NPR and prioritize employee safety and well-being. Hong is committed to fairness and objectivity in her work, and to ensuring that everyone at NPR feels seen, heard and valued.

Hong has over a decade of experience supporting clients from various industries on labor and employment matters. Prior to coming to NPR, she served as a labor and employment attorney, working with clients — including NPR — on a wide array of labor and employment issues including HR compliance, recruiting, hiring, compensation and benefits, wages and hours, worker classification, restructuring, performance management, workplace investigations, leaves of absence, collective bargaining and more. Hong has prior in-house experience as well, having served as employment counsel at a high growth global technology company based in San Francisco and, before that, as in-house counsel at a rapidly growing e-commerce startup in the Bay Area. Before that, she practiced law in NYC for over seven years.

Hong earned her BA in political science from Yale University. She later earned her JD from Columbia University School of Law, where she served as Co-Chair of Columbia Law School's Domestic Violence Project and Business Editor of the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. She was also active in Columbia's Courtroom Advocacy Project where she provided assistance to domestic violence survivors in court.