In Memoriam
Charles Kramer (1930 – 2023)
Our first meeting in December of 1981 is as fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday !
I had just arrived in Washington DC to join the Bank as a Staffing Specialist in the Personnel Management Department (PMD), as the Human Resources (HR) function was known then. Charles was very kind and welcoming when we were first introduced and he maintained that elder brotherly concern, interest and care for me over the years and decades that followed .
Charles belonged to that group of European based and trained human resources management specialists that were brought into the Bank in the early 1980s to refocus the strategic optic of the department away from the prevailing procedural and administrative mindset and approach that had marked it from its early years and help it develop and establish a policy framework that would support Bank’s pivotal role in the economic development of its member countries beyond the concept of infrastructure projects that had hitherto marked its intervention worldwide.
Charles had come to the Bank after an impressive career marked with senior postings and responsibilities with Nestlé Afico (Switzerland), Rank Xerox (France) , ITT-Europe (Belgium) and extensive professional engagements across the globe.
We cooperated professionally within the Bank for a number of years when he was in charge of the Personnel function in the legal department. I had then ample opportunity to see how he interacted and worked with senior management and staff to foster a conducive working environment where a respectful dialogue harmonized institutional objectives with career aspirations.
Charles brought a new dimension to this drive when he championed the establishment of the first career management and succession planning center in the Bank to help both management and staff to develop appropriate strategies and programs to develop individual career paths, recognizing managerial skills and potential . He never tired of conductiong workshops, meetings and seminars across the Bank to promote the principles of the approach, to develop assessment tools and to design programs that were to lead to better career opportunities for staff.
It was unfortunate that this vibrant renewal in the Personnel Management Department came to a sudden end during the 1987 reorganization, which many of the European recruits, including Charles, either left, resigned or were declared redundant.
Charles took these developments in the stride . What was a painful professional experience to many of his colleagues turned into another professional opportunity for him when he joined the International Service for National Research (ISNAR) in the Hague and worked for them until his manadatory retirement in 1995. In that capacity Charles was responsible for providing HR advisory services to national agricultural research organizations in many developing countries, such as Morocco , Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, while manging the internal HR services at ISNAR’s international corporate head office.
We kept close contact and met several times over the years when he visited Washington DC on various occasions. Each meeting was an occasion for me to sharpen my own understanding of what was happening in the field of human resources management, even though I was no longer associated with it professionally.Charles kept sharing his views with the rest of us by posting on INSEAD’s (Insitut Européen d’Administrations des Affaires) “Research Gate”, numerous articles written over 30 years for the Journal of the Swiss Employer’s Union. In addition to INSEAD, a global post graduate academic establishment with footprints in many parts of the world, Charles kept a working relationship with the Sorbonne University in Paris and the Wharton School in the USA . In the hundreds of articles he wrote for trade journals (some of which can be found on (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/CharlesKramer) Charles dealt with contemporary developments, issues and challenges facing the new Human Resources management function bridging the experiences in Europe with the US practices. He kept constantly reminding his readers that the field of human resources management was not merely an administratiuve support function where hapless people retreated in search of a job but rather an imaginative and resourceful function that was supposed to be in the driver’s seat along with other senior executives for shaping the strategic vision of corporations.
Charles was well read with a curious mind that transcended his field of expertise. Trained as a classical psychologist, his interests, readings and writings went beyond the realm of academic pursuits and he shared his observations and opinions liberally with his readers.
Charles was born in Strasbourg, France in 1930.He passed away peacefully on October 13, 2023 surrounded by his wife Lyliane, their daughter Danielle and her husband Michel de Vergezag and grandchildren Antoine, Clément et Guillaume, as well as close family friends.
Thank you dear Charles for your friendship and for being what you were for so many of us.
Hovsep Melkonian
November 27, 2023
