Chris Saffer in

Chris Saffer

Initiator · DISC type Di
Deputy Division Director, Employee Services at King County Metro Transit
📍 Greater Seattle Area, United States

Chris Saffer is the Deputy Division Director of Employee Services at King County Metro Transit, where he leads talent strategy and workforce innovation. A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with a Masters from the University of Chicago, he excels in streamlining recruitment and navigating complex labor agreements. Colleagues describe him as passionate, strategic, and a great communicator.

He is passionate about creating open and psychologically safe work environments where people can thrive. He believes in people-centric HR, focusing on trust and impact over simple policy enforcement. His work often involves understanding team motivation and fostering collaboration to solve multifaceted challenges.

Chris is a co-author of two books, including "Stepping Stones to Success" and "The Secret to Measuring Personality For Performance. "

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Current Role
Deputy Division Director, Employee Services
Location
Greater Seattle Area, United States
Personality Overview

How Chris shows up

Impact-Oriented
Risk-Accepting
Conviction Driven

They don’t mind taking a stand if they believe in something. They respond well to objective pitches but also attach some value to relationships. They usually prefer to drive the conversation.

Priorities

Topics Chris cares about

Workforce Innovation
Integrates Lean methodologies into HR to streamline recruitment, navigate complex labor agreements, and improve organizational agility across King County Metro's 11 divisions.
Employee Engagement
Advocates for using 'stay interviews' instead of traditional performance evaluations to better understand what drives employee retention and growth, a practice he also focused on at Columbia Bank.
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Career

Work history

8-2025
Deputy Division Director, Employee Services
King County Metro Transit
2-2025 - 8-2025
HR Manager, Acting Head of HR
King County Metro Transit
4-2023 - 2-2025
HR Manager, Head of Talent Management
King County Metro Transit
1-2021 - 3-2023
Vice President of Employee Experience
Columbia Bank
8-2019 - 1-2021
Deputy Division Director Career & Culture
King County, WA
In the press

Media appearances

No media yetWe could not find public media appearances for this person.
Education
Master’s Degree
University of Chicago
Bachelor's Degree
University of Washington
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

D

Dominance (D)

Dominance (D) reflects how goal and task oriented a person is, and their ability to accomplish results irrespective of how demanding the circumstances might be. Those scoring high tend to be motivated by winning, competition, and success.

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