Amber Kennelly

About Amber

Amber Kennelly, partner, is the chief human resources officer (CHRO) at William Blair, where she leads the firm’s global human resources organization. In this role, she oversees the full spectrum of talent strategy, programs, and processes that support leaders, managers, and colleagues across the firm. Her areas of accountability include talent acquisition, global compensation and benefits, performance management, learning and leadership development, HR business partners, HRIS, and William Blair’s Alliances.

Amber brings more than twenty years of broad-based HR expertise, having held roles across nearly every dimension of the function. Before joining William Blair, she served for five years as CHRO of HUB International, a Chicago‑based insurance brokerage with more than 15,000 employees and 500 offices. Prior to HUB, she spent twelve years at Allstate including her officer‑level role as vice president of total compensation and vice president of human resources for Esurance, an independently operated subsidiary in San Francisco. She also held leadership roles across executive compensation, executive development, leadership development, and executive talent acquisition for the company. Earlier in her career, Amber held roles with two leading retained executive search firms, as well as positions at Deloitte & Touche as an audit professional and Jones Lang LaSalle as an assistant controller.

Amber enjoys chairing the William Blair benefit committee, coordinating our four employee-led Alliances, and serving on the national board for CareerSpring. She is also active in the HR community and serves on the advisory boards of several CHRO organizations. She holds an M.B.A. from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a Bachelor of Science with honors in accountancy from the University of Illinois. Amber has also earned designations as a CPA and Certified Compensation Professional. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband, two sons, and daughter.