For C-suite veteran Nigel Travis, the path to the CEO office was atypical—because it ran directly through the HR function. While his transformation from CHRO to CEO was an outlier several decades ago, it is a more natural move today, experts say, as HR leaders increasingly play a strategic business role. That shift is enabling HR executives to more readily develop and leverage deep business knowledge that could ultimately help them climb the corporate ladder to the CEO role.

From 2009-18, Travis served as CEO of Dunkin' Brands and previously was CEO at Papa John's International. But for more than two decades earlier in his career, Travis was an HR professional, ultimately heading up the HR department at international food chain Burger King.

As senior vice president of HR at Burger King from 1989 to 1991, Travis focused on aligning people and business strategy, which had him closely examining talent-related business issues. However, it was his questions about the organization's profit/loss challenges outside the HR function that caught his boss' attention. One day, his boss approached him with an observation: Travis possessed the business acumen to run an operations unit.