“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
Those were the words Karen Craft uttered countless times during her years spent as an emergency services phone operator.
She didn’t know it then, but that experience laid the foundation for her career supporting Executive leaders and their teams.
“Do you know the highest-risk call that comes in for police officers? Many people think it’s something like armed robbery. It’s actually a call for a traffic stop. That’s because a simple traffic stop carries a lot of unknowns. The officer doesn’t know what they’re walking into.”
Walking Into Unknowns
After transitioning to a career in HR, Craft noticed that many executives, business owners, and HR practitioners were encountering the same challenge: they were walking into unknown situations, and sometimes experiencing unforeseen outcomes.
“People are what make businesses thrive. Ask any leader of a successful company, and they’ll tell you that they couldn’t do it without their people,” said Craft.
“But people are also extremely complex, and the way they’re treated by organizations is strictly regulated. When you combine the uniqueness of people’s individual circumstances and an organization’s needs, along with the ever-changing employment regulations, it creates significant complexity. It’s often too much for many executives or in-house HR teams to be on top of while also managing all the other aspects of leadership.”
Creating iHR Advisory Services
After spending years working for Rogers Communications and the Bank of Canada, Craft launched iHR Advisory Services in 2016 with a mission to become a trusted, experienced HR partner that her clients could call at any time.
As time progressed, she refined the business by implementing HR programs to support organizations at different life cycle stages. Whether you’re a startup making your first hires or a medium-sized organization with years of history and dozens of employees, iHR has a program to support you.
iHR’s motto, “Steady is our pace. Ready wins the race!” has been critical to the organization’s success. iHR’s logo, a turtle, embodies this approach.
“We make steady, measured progress with our clients. It’s not about being flashy or edgy. It’s about supporting our clients day in, day out, with the wisdom and guidance they need,” said Craft.
“The guiding principle is that we always have our clients’ backs.”
“We’ve built a reputation for supporting our clients with annual updates, policy development and reviews, coaching, and more. But we’re also known across Ottawa and the GTA for the fact that when our clients need us, they can pick up the phone and talk to an expert right away. They know we’ve got their backs,” she added.
Celebrating 10 Years
In 2026, iHR will be celebrating 10 years in business. It’s a significant milestone, but just one more step along the journey. 
“I’m so proud of our team and the impact we’ve had in Ottawa and the GTA over the last 10 years. I can’t wait to celebrate with our clients and the business community that has embraced us.”
“While 10 years is a long time, the truth is that we’re just getting started. We recently launched a sister company to iHR called CraftXecs to provide CEOs and executive teams the unfair advantage of having a C-Suite ally when navigating transformation. That’s just one example of how we’re continuing to find new ways to serve our clients.”
Years after moving on from her role in emergency services, business executives still tell Craft that while her credentials and the quality of her work are outstanding, what sets her apart is the sense of calm and steadiness she brings amid complexity.
“My team and I have decades of combined experience. We’ve seen it all. Truly, we’ve seen it all. Nothing surprises us. Whether we’re talking about employment contracts, terminations, medical accommodations, AI, or any other topic, we’re able to prepare and support our clients with expert guidance.”
“Today, we do for our clients what I couldn’t do for the officers I was dispatching years ago: we eliminate the unknowns.”
