The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of how human resource development (HRD) can align more closely with the healthcare system's strategic priorities from the perspective of chief financial officers (CFOs). Five common themes emerged: (a) training is well aligned to the strategic priority to optimize clinical delivery in hospitals; (b) training is viewed as a valuable resource for achieving the strategic priorities within organizations, with CFOs rating it a score of 4 or 5 out of 5; (c) communicating strategic priorities to HRD leaders and discussing HRD's role in alignment is seen as a CFO's responsibility; (d) CFOs report consistent increases in training budgets rather than decreases; and (e) HRD leaders are not reporting evidence of trainings' value in improving productivity and profitability. Many CFOs reported that they had not thought of training as a resource for achieving strategic priorities but instead viewed training budgets as a fixed cost and not subject to change based on performance metrics. A semistructured interview format with open-ended questions was used in conformity with commonly accepted phenomenological data collection procedures. CFOs were intentionally selected as the focus of the study because they are the drivers of education department budgets and therefore have the authority to determine the viability of HRD within the organization. Eight hospital unit CFOs were interviewed. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Then the transcripts were sent to all participants for review to ensure accuracy. Data analysis began with a careful and methodical reading of each transcript. CFOs' common experiences were coded by keywords. The codes were then consolidated to enable identification across all participants. Each category was reviewed with its codes and a common thematic phrase was generated, describing salient experiences and perceptions. Findings from this study highlight the perceptions of CFOs concerning the alignment of HRD with strategic priorities within their organizations that could potentially inform HRD's critical place in healthcare organizations. Recommendations are included for healthcare HRD leaders and leaders of university programs who are interested in developing successful adult education leaders in the field of healthcare. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]