David Watts
Fractional HR leadership and strategy built on integrity, discipline, and results, for growing organizations throughout Northern New England (VT, NH, ME).
Strategy that shows up in the numbers
David connects people strategy to measurable business results. Two engagements that define how he works:
Two decades of HR leadership success across healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and nonprofit organizations.
From Dartmouth Health to Simon Pearce to Kendal at Hanover, David has led HR through healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and nonprofit settings.
Fractional leadership grounded in values
David Watts is the Principal of WattsUp Human Resource Solutions (wattsuphr.com), which provides fractional HR leadership and HR strategy consulting services throughout Northern New England (VT, NH, ME).
WattsUp is a values-forward firm, focused on integrity, authenticity, discipline, fairness and excellence.
He has twenty years of success in healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and other spaces, including employment at Dartmouth Health, Simon Pearce and Kendal at Hanover, as well as officer-level leadership roles at several non-profit organizations.
David earned a Master of Science degree in Labor Studies from the University of Massachusetts and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology (industrial/organizational concentration) from the University of Connecticut. He completed a one year Chief Human Resource Officer program at the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in 2024, and maintains a Senior Certified Professional certification from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Most businesses don't stall because of their market. They stall because of people.
You already know your people drive your results. You just don't have the time or the in-house expertise to build the systems that get the most from them. That's where I come in. As your fractional HR leader, I install proven HR strategy and systems that are repeatable, scalable, and built for your business.
Book a Free Discovery CallWhere David creates the most value
Deep specialization across the full spectrum of human resources leadership, with an eye always on retention, engagement, and performance.
Fractional and Interim HR Leadership
WattsUp steps in when a company needs effective interim HR leadership, an organization has outgrown its existing HR capacity, or a CEO needs senior HR advice without hiring a full-time executive.
HR Function Stabilization
WattsUp can create a defined engagement for an organization experiencing turnover, inconsistent practices, compliance concerns, loss of confidence in HR, or a backlog of unresolved employee-relations matters.
Strategic People Projects
Succession planning, organizational design, executive recruitment, workforce strategy, investigations, leadership development, and post-merger integration.
The challenges that quietly cap your growth
Attracting and retaining the right people?
The talent who can actually drive your business results, and the systems to keep them.
People processes that don't run efficiently?
Hiring, onboarding, performance, and pay that should run like clockwork, but don't.
A culture that's undefined, or dividing the team?
Misalignment and disorder that quietly erode engagement and profit.
If any of these sound familiar, you're not alone. Businesses of every size face them, and David is ready to help you overcome them.
Let's TalkWorking with David Watts
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If you're ready to build repeatable, scalable people operations that produce results, let's start the conversation.