Fort Worth, Texas, United States, January 2026 — Freese and Nichols, a leading professional planning, consulting and engineering firm in the United States, has appointed JaNette Bridgewater as its new Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). In this role, Bridgewater will lead the firm’s people strategy, overseeing talent acquisition, organizational development, compensation, benefits, employee relations and HR operations for more than 1,300 employees nationwide.
Her elevation to the CHRO role reflects a strong internal leadership journey and her proven ability to align human capital strategy with business growth and operational excellence.
Before assuming her current role, Bridgewater served for nearly seven years as Vice President, Human Resources at Freese and Nichols, where she led the full spectrum of HR functions and guided the redesign of compensation structures, benefits frameworks and scalable people processes across the organization.
Prior to joining Freese and Nichols, she built a strong HR leadership foundation at Alcon, where she held multiple senior roles including Associate Director, Global Human Resources Business Partner, Associate Director, HR Business Partner (Novartis Business Services), and earlier HR and talent acquisition leadership positions. Her experience spans global HR business partnering, executive talent acquisition, workforce transformation and leadership development.
Earlier in her career, Bridgewater held recruitment leadership roles at Saxon (a Morgan Stanley company) and Robert Half International, where she consistently delivered high-impact hiring initiatives and workforce planning solutions.
About Freese and Nichols
Freese and Nichols is a national professional planning, consulting and engineering firm serving clients across the United States. Known for excellence in sustainable water and infrastructure development, the firm is the first engineering/architecture organization to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, reflecting its commitment to continuous improvement and client-focused innovation.
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