Steven Kalashian has a way of making people feel seen.

In a one-on-one conversation, that shows up as presence. People feel heard, understood, and taken seriously. At an organizational level, it shows up in something harder to achieve: systems built around how people actually work, not the other way around.

That’s the throughline in his work.

Steven is an HR and organizational development leader who builds the systems behind performance—how people are developed, how they’re evaluated, and how organizations prepare for what’s next. What sets his work apart is the intention behind it. He designs systems that feel personal, even at scale.

Over the course of his career, Steven has partnered with senior leaders to design performance management approaches, succession planning systems, and leadership development programs that bring greater clarity and consistency to how organizations grow their people.

He’s held senior HR leadership roles in complex, high-stakes environments, including serving as VP of HR & Organizational Development at the New York Power Authority and SVP of HR at the New York City Economic Development Corporation. In those roles, he helped shape the workforce behind major public initiatives, from clean energy transformation to large-scale redevelopment projects across New York City.

At Strategy Muse, Steven works with organizations to strengthen how they operate through their people. Most recently, he partnered with a public infrastructure client to redesign its Treasury function, clarifying the capabilities needed to deliver greater strategic value, from analytics to financial modeling and forecasting. He also worked closely with the HR leadership team to define a new vision and build a multi-year plan to move it forward.

His work brings a human sensibility to systems that are often anything but.

Education

• University of Massachusetts at Amherst, B.S. Environmental Science

• Hogan Assessment Systems