Cameron Waters’ track record of building the HR department from the ground up at his previous company made him a shoo-in for leading human resources at Tierra Encantada, a Spanish immersion day care and preschool. With the Minneapolis-based company experiencing rapid growth, Waters juggles a national expansion while building a team and creating systems from scratch. His primary focus has been to improve onboarding and retention for Tierra, including efforts to create the infrastructure for sponsoring visas to hire employees from outside the U.S. and transitioning the onboarding process to 100% online. Waters’ initiatives have resulted in a double-digit reduction in turnover year over year and a 250-plus employee count. And he finds time to mentor trans youth, knowing firsthand the importance of support when first coming out.