Nominations open for HR Professional of the Year awards: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused organizations throughout the region to pivot and adapt in order to best care for their employees. The human resources profession has been on the front lines ensuring workforces are safe, healthy and in the best position to keep their businesses running effectively. This award, which recognizes an HR professional from Central Iowa both for their professional accomplishments and community engagement, will be presented at the Business Record’s annual 90 Ideas in 90 Minutes event on Oct. 1. The submission deadline for nominations is Sept. 4.

Biden chooses Kamala Harris as VP candidate: Last week, former Vice President Joe Biden announced Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his pick for vice president. Harris will be the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be nominated for national office by a major party. A pragmatic moderate and one of Biden’s former rivals in the presidential race, Harris was a barrier-breaking prosecutor before being elected to the Senate in 2016. Harris, 55, was born in Oakland, Calif. She is a former attorney general of California and a former San Francisco district attorney. When she announced her own bid for the presidency — on Martin Luther King’s Birthday in 2019 — she pitched herself as a history-making candidate, paying homage to Shirley Chisholm, the New York congresswoman who became the first woman to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

AND IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

The Fortune Global 500 last week hit a new low. Only 13 women have a place on the list, and for the first time in several years, all of the women are white.

Françoise Brougher, the former COO of Pinterest, sued the company for gender discrimination and retaliation. Brougher says she was left out of meetings, given gendered feedback, paid less, and fired for speaking out. Pinterest says it is reviewing the lawsuit and conducting an independent review of its culture.