What CHRO’s Must Get Right with Special Guest Mary Sue Rogers

On this episode, Pete and Julie are joined by Mary Sue Rogers, a legend and pioneer in global HR, payroll, and workforce transformation! From her early days modernizing payroll systems to senior leadership roles at IBM, Talent2, and Ascender, Mary Sue shares a rare, long-view perspective on how payroll evolved from a compliance function into the operational backbone of today’s global workforce. The conversation spans Asia-Pacific payroll complexity, multinational compliance, board-level risk oversight, and why paying people accurately is foundational to employee experience. Mary Sue also offers sharp insight into AI’s real impact on HR, the growing role of payroll as an extension of government compliance, and what CHROs must prioritize as organizations head into an uncertain 2026. Connect with Mary Sue: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogersmarysue Connect with the show: LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0 X: @HRPayroll2_0 X: @PeteTiliakos X: @JulieFer_HR BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0 WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20 Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward! G-P ‘Globalization Partners’: https://www.globalization-partners.com/ OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90 Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain’ and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/