Fortune 500 HR Leadership for Your Business, on a Fractional Basis
Direct access to a chief human resource officer who has led HR at Honeywell, Cummins and JB Poindexter, without the cost of a full-time hire.
Meet Ken Sensanbaugher
The founder of KNS Associates spent his career leading HR where the standards are highest. Now that experience works for businesses like yours.
Ken Sensanbaugher spent 30+ years leading human resources inside some of the most demanding companies in American industry. He built his career at Honeywell and Cummins, has led global HR transformations, and serves as Chief Human Resource Officer at JB Poindexter. He holds a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.
That career taught him something most small and medium-sized businesses learn the hard way: people problems are business problems. Succession gaps stall growth. The wrong organizational structure quietly taxes every decision. Compensation that has drifted from the market walks your best performers out the door. These are executive problems, and they deserve an executive answer.
KNS Associates exists so that companies from $1M to $500M in revenue can get that answer without carrying the cost of a full-time CHRO. Ken works directly with owners, CEOs and leadership teams in the Houston area and nationwide, on site and remotely, as a fractional or interim executive and as a senior consultant on defined projects.
Why Companies Choose KNS
Executive HR leadership is a different product from HR support, and the difference shows up in your business results.
An Executive, Not an Agency
When you engage KNS, you work with Ken. Your HR strategy is shaped by someone who has sat in the CHRO chair, not handed to a junior consulting team.
Fortune 500 Discipline, Right-Sized
The frameworks that run HR at companies like Honeywell and Cummins, adapted to the pace, budget and culture of a small or medium-sized business.
Accountable to Business Outcomes
Every recommendation is tied to what the CEO actually cares about: growth, retention of key people, risk and the strength of the leadership bench.
Executive HR Leadership, in the Form Your Business Needs
From ongoing fractional leadership to defined consulting projects, every service is delivered directly by Ken.
Fractional CHRO
Ongoing executive HR leadership on a part-time basis. Ken joins your leadership team on a set cadence and owns the people agenda.
Learn moreInterim CHRO
Full executive coverage when your HR leader departs, during a search, or through a transition that cannot wait.
Learn moreFractional Chief People Officer
People-first executive leadership for companies where culture, talent and growth sit at the top of the agenda.
Learn moreExecutive HR Consulting
Senior counsel on employee relations, labor relations and the hard people decisions that land on a CEO's desk.
Learn moreHR Transformation Consulting
Change management, organizational design, shared services and a modern HR strategy, including a clear-eyed approach to AI in HR.
Learn moreThe Full Service Line
From leadership development to compliance audits, explore every way KNS puts executive HR expertise to work for your business.
Learn moreCredentials Earned in the Chair
The judgment KNS brings to your business was built at the highest levels of corporate HR.
Who We Help
KNS serves leaders who feel the weight of people decisions and want an executive beside them when they make them.
- Small and medium-sized businesses from $1M to $500M in revenue
- Growth-stage companies whose people infrastructure has not kept pace with the business
- Organizations navigating transformation, succession or a change in ownership
- Companies with a capable HR team that needs executive-level direction
- Owners, CEOs, CFOs and COOs who want a confidential advisor on people decisions
- Houston-area businesses, and clients nationwide
Imagery on this page is representative. Client photography replaces it once brand assets are approved.
Credentials and Affiliations
Problems We Solve
The people challenges that reach the CEO are the ones KNS was built for.
Succession Risk
Key roles with no ready successor put the whole business at risk. Ken builds succession plans that name real candidates and close real gaps.
Organizational Design
Structures that grew by accident instead of design. KNS aligns roles, reporting lines and decision rights with where the business is going.
Compensation
Pay that has drifted from the market, or an executive compensation approach that no longer retains your leaders. Ken brings structure and defensibility.
Employee Relations
The sensitive situations that keep owners up at night, handled with executive judgment, discretion and a steady hand.
Compliance Exposure
HR practices that grew informally often carry risk nobody has measured. KNS audits, prioritizes and resolves them before they become a problem.
AI in HR
AI is changing how HR works. Ken helps you adopt it deliberately, with a strategy that strengthens the function without creating new risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
A fractional CHRO gives your company a true HR executive on a part-time basis. Ken sits with your leadership team, owns the people strategy, and handles the executive-level work, including succession, organizational design, compensation, employee relations and compliance, while your internal team runs day-to-day HR.
Outsourcing moves HR administration to an outside provider. KNS provides leadership: the strategy, judgment and executive presence that administration cannot supply. Many companies keep their existing HR staff or provider and add Ken as the executive layer above it.
KNS works with businesses from $1M to $500M in revenue. If people decisions are starting to shape your growth, your risk or your ability to sleep at night, you are big enough. The initial conversation will tell you honestly whether the fit is right.
KNS is based in the Houston area and works on site with clients there, and serves clients nationwide through a mix of on-site and remote engagement. Geography has never limited the work.
Every engagement is scoped first. After the initial conversation and intake meeting, Ken presents a recommended approach with clear pricing in the strategy discussion, so you know exactly what you are committing to before anything begins. The How We Work page walks through the full process.
Put Fortune 500 HR Leadership on Your Team
Talk directly with Ken about the people challenges in front of your business. Based in the Houston area, serving clients nationwide.