Paige Maisonet

From Gut to Grit: How Paige Maisonet Turned Data into a Strategic Advantage

Meet Paige Maisonet, Chief People Officer at Newfront.

Paige Maisonet is a seasoned HR executive with over a decade of experience building and scaling people teams at Newfront. Since joining in 2015 (then known as ABD), she’s led nearly every area of the function—from talent acquisition and total rewards to DEI and employee engagement. In January 2025, she was promoted to Chief People Officer, a role in which she continues to shape the culture, systems, and leadership practices of a fast-scaling company. She’s also the founder of Newfront’s DEI Council and co-founder of BLACKfront, the company’s Black-employee resource group. Paige is SHRM-CP certified, deeply committed to equity in the workplace, and proud to lead a team that has helped Newfront earn recognition from Forbes, the Human Rights Campaign, and Insurance Business America.

But while Paige’s title has changed, her superpower has stayed consistent: leading with heart—and evolving with intention.

From Feeling to Fact: A Career-Defining Shift

When Paige reflects on her journey, she doesn’t point to a single lightbulb moment. Instead, she talks about seasons—times when everything shifted. One of the most defining came during her transition into a more data-driven HR leadership style.

“After so many years, I knew my people. I knew what they needed, what they meant when they said something. But suddenly, I had to prove it—with data.”

That shift came after a merger and the introduction of a new CEO who brought a sharper focus on metrics and benchmarks. Paige had always led with empathy and instinct, building programs rooted in employee sentiment. But now, the mandate was clear: bring the numbers. And that meant transforming not just how the People team operated, but how it was perceived.

Laying the Foundation

The first step? Infrastructure. For a full year, Paige focused her team on data collection: ticketing systems, consistent documentation, and reliable tracking methods. Only then could they begin identifying trends and building dashboards that would hold up to executive scrutiny.

“You can’t just wake up and be data-driven. You need clean data—and the systems to collect it.”

With time, the team evolved. Where once they might have started with gut instinct, they now began every initiative by asking: What do we want to learn? What story do we want the data to tell? And how will we know if it worked?

Trust, Transparency, and the Tough Conversations

One turning point came when the People team took a closer look at the organization’s structure and noticed something troubling: the company was becoming increasingly top-heavy. That realization stood in direct conflict with the company’s revenue goals. While the imbalance was evident through a basic analysis—looking at the spread of titles, levels, and roles—it raised a deeper question: why was this happening?

Digging into the data, Paige and her team discovered that the organization’s annual promotion rate was more than two and a half times the industry standard. What began as a way to reward and recognize talent had inadvertently contributed to title inflation, unclear leveling, and bloated cost structures.

Instead of ignoring the trend or reacting with blanket policies, the People team initiated a more strategic, collaborative approach to how promotions were reviewed, approved, and communicated. They introduced clearer criteria, streamlined promotion cycles, and strengthened the partnership with business leaders to ensure promotions were aligned with both readiness and business need—not just goodwill or retention tactics.

The result? The company was able to responsibly reduce its promotion rate by nearly half within a year. Even more importantly, the process brought renewed clarity and meaning to what a promotion represented. Leaders who once pushed for off-cycle or unmerited promotions began to recognize the long-term value of a more disciplined, transparent process. And the financial impact was significant—helping the company save thousands while moving closer to key revenue goals.

This kind of thoughtful, data-informed problem-solving earned the trust of leadership over time. Even Paige’s toughest skeptics—those wedded to the “old way” or fearful of pushback—came around when they saw how the People team’s work could drive clarity, accountability, and sustainable growth.

From Roadblock to Strategic Engine

Early in the transformation, the People Ops team was sometimes seen as a barrier—too slow, too cautious, too process-heavy. But as Paige led the shift toward a more metrics-forward mindset, that perception changed.

“Now, we hear things like, ‘POps has the best workflows,’ or ‘They’re the most organized team.’ That’s our gold star.”

With dashboards, quarterly business reviews, and sharp benchmarking in place, the People team is now regularly tapped to inform key decisions. Leaders no longer see them as a compliance function—they’re a strategic engine.

And the team feels it, too.

What She Learned—and What She’d Pass On

Reflecting on the journey, Paige says the biggest takeaway wasn’t about numbers at all. It was about trust.

“Trust builds when you show up consistently, tell the truth, and back it up. The data helped—but the shift came when we used it with empathy.”

She also emphasizes the importance of balance. Data can sharpen decisions, but it doesn’t replace human connection. The work of a People team, she says, is to navigate both: the hard numbers and the soft skills.

Her advice to other HR leaders?

“Lead with curiosity. Be okay being wrong. And remember: there’s no one way to do this. But when you connect the dots—with integrity, with clarity—you’ll come out stronger.”