Metro Bus CAO honored with distinguished labor relations award
Metro Bus CAO Sunny Hesse was named as the 2023 Minnesota Public Employers Labor Relations Association’s (MPELRA) Excellence in Labor Relations Award winner at the association’s annual conference in February. The award recognizes “an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the management role in public sector labor relations during their career.”
Since joining Metro Bus, Ms. Hesse has successfully negotiated multiple union contracts. During negotiations, she works tirelessly to ensure management and labor are heard and have their needs met in an ever-changing labor relations environment.
Driven to provide employees with a healthy work-life balance, Ms. Hesse puts this value at the forefront of many executive-level discussions and decisions. She regularly collaborates with a team who develop updates to meet employee needs; recruit and retain staff in a vastly changed, post-pandemic employment landscape; and advocate for Metro Bus to be known as a “family” rather than an employer.
Ms. Hesse has served in public sector Human Resource roles since 2007. She started at Metro Bus as Human Resources Director in June 2017 and became Chief Administration Officer in September of 2020. Ms. Hesse has also served on the ROCORI School Board since 2016 and been a member of MPELRA and the National Public Employers Labor Relations Association (NPELRA) since 2010.