Torri on a scavenger hunt with her sister-in-law, brother and nephews.
More than 30 years ago, Torri Williams hit the ground running as a summer hire for Weyerhaeuser. Though she knew the company through her father, who was a Weyerhaeuser forester at the time, she says that first position as a summer student laid the groundwork for her career ever since.
“It pulled on my natural curiosity,” she says. “As a summer hire, I got to work in different types of roles on projects that only lasted six to eight weeks. I had to ask a lot of questions so I didn’t make a mess of what I was doing! And I had to really lean in and learn quick.”
That curiosity and capacity to lean in served her well in her first full-time role with the company as a supervisor trainee.
“My manager essentially just turned me loose for two months and told me to learn the business in our plywood plant in Wright City, Oklahoma,” she says. “So I went out and sat with the operators at each step of the manufacturing line and asked questions. By the time my two months were over, I knew not just the manufacturing process, but also the people running it.”
Fast forward to 2024, when Torri was asked to temporarily leave behind her role as Human Resource business lead for our Mid-South lumber mills in order to become a track lead for our Aspire program to help the company transition from PeopleSoft to UKG People Center.
“I was on the Workforce Management track, which launched this March with Phase 1,” she says. “But I saw Talent on the Phase 2 timeline back at the program kickoff in November 2024 and immediately reached out to track lead Paul DiPietro to share some thoughts and ideas. I didn’t wait for someone to invite me — I just jumped in.”
Torri at our Seattle Headquarters for an Aspire on-site.
BUILDING A NEW SYSTEM — AND A NEW ROLE
Torri started working full time on Aspire in late 2024, partnering with Erin Olson, IT business relationship manager based in Montana, to lead the Workforce Management sub-track for scheduling. Joining them on the sub-track were Trena Pepper, HR business partner in British Columbia; Brandy Rollyson, HR business partner at our Sutton OSB mill in Heaters, West Virginia; and multiple consultants from Deloitte.
“There was a whole learning curve at the beginning,” Torri says. “I had never worked on a project of this magnitude.”
With her signature curiosity, positive energy and infectious laugh, the first thing Torri did was build alignment across her sub-track team.
“Every track on the Aspire program works with Weyerhaeuser employees, Deloitte consultants and contractors, so alignment is really important,” she says. “It doesn’t matter what your title is or who pays your paycheck. What matters is how we work together toward our common objective. Since very few employees had even seen the UKG platform before, it was especially important to stay aligned, share knowledge and level-set on where we were and where we needed to go.”
Torri’s deep HR expertise and experience working at a number of our mills give her a unique view into the importance of the program.
“It’s important to understand what the end result is expected to be, and to keep that end result in mind as you work through a project like Aspire from start to finish,” she says. “I prioritize being available to folks at the sites, and I reach out to them quickly if I recognize a gap. That way we can figure out ways to fix it.”
Torri with her college roommates at her niece's high school graduation.
ADVICE FROM TORRI
- Jump in with “I want to learn about…” If you’re curious about a part of the business, speak up and tell someone! So many doors open by simply expressing curiosity. People love to share what they do.
- Ask the “dumb” questions. If you’re in a meeting and you don’t know what someone is talking about, don’t just smile and nod along. Ask clarifying questions so everyone there has the same base knowledge.
- Be open to new roles. I didn’t know this project was coming until it was offered. You never know what might be out there for you.
- Lean in, and learn all you can. Right now, that means I’m going through self-paced learning courses in the UKG University site to understand the Talent tools. Leaning in will look different in each role or project — it could be as simple as joining meetings only tangentially related to your daily work, or asking to shadow a colleague. The more you lean in, the more effective you’ll be.
