Jay Allen
Executive Vice President Human Resources
The Charles Schwab Corporation

Jay L. Allen is responsible for human resources, talent development, compensation and benefits, employee communications, events and production services. Allen leads Schwab’s investments in building a capable, engaged and high-performing workforce focused on delighting clients.

Previously, Allen led the Human Resources and Communications functions for Schwab’s core retail brokerage enterprise, Schwab Investor Services. In that role, he led an organization of more than 60 staff dedicated to providing support for a 6,000-employee organization. Allen partnered closely with Schwab leadership in refining the Schwab Investor Services business model, refocusing employees on delivering outstanding client service, streamlining the organization and improving financial performance. Restructuring efforts during this period generated $100 million in cost savings to the firm and re-aligned organizations to produce greater accountability for financial performance.

Before joining Schwab in 2003, Allen was Vice President, Human Resources and Administration for GE Consumer Finance-Japan, based in Tokyo. He also held executive positions with NBC Internet, Oacis Healthcare Systems and IBM. Allen has extensive experience with large-scale organizational change initiatives, including merger and acquisition integration.

Allen received his bachelor’s degree from the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources.

 

Sally Buchanan
Vice President, Human Resources
Sony Computer Entertainment America

Sally Buchanan has been an integral part of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) for over 14 years. As vice president of human resources at SCEA, Buchanan oversees the company’s strategic human resources initiatives including career planning, leadership development, succession planning and talent acquisition and retention strategies. Additionally, Buchanan develops strategy for the human resources program and emphasizes performance management.

Buchanan has played a key role in SCEA human resources since 1994. Previously, Buchanan served as the director of human resources where she added further depth and talent to SCEA’s executive leadership. Prior to joining SCEA, Buchanan acquired talent for various technology and staffing companies including Media Vision, a soundboard company, and Interim Personnel, a Cupertino-based staffing firm.

Buchanan is an active member of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) as well as World at Work, the world's leading not-for-profit professional association dedicated to knowledge leadership in total rewards, compensation, benefits, and work-life.

 

Michelle Crosby
Chief Talent Officer & Executive Vice President Human Resources
24 Hour Fitness

Michelle recently joined 24 Hour Fitness as Chief Talent Officer and Executive Vice President of Human Resources. In this capacity, she has responsibility for all aspects of human resources and partners with the senior team on key business issues. Headquartered in San Ramon, California, 24 Hour Fitness, an innovative leader in the health and fitness industry, serves more than 3 million members in over 400 clubs worldwide.

Prior to joining 24 Hour Fitness in July 2007, Michelle was Senior Vice President, Human Resources for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide with responsibility for human resources globally. Before assuming the role as head of human resources, Michelle spend 6 years with Starwood as Senior Vice President, Organizational Capability where she led the development of Starwood’s talent management, leadership development, recruiting & selection, learning and development, and organizational effectiveness programs.

Before joining Starwood in 1999, Michelle was Senior Vice President and Northeast region head for Aon Consulting’s Human Resources Consulting Group. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology from Brown University and both Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Connecticut in industrial and organizational psychology. She has presented on talent management, selection and assessment, and building a branded service culture to numerous industry and professional groups.

 

Jorge L. Figueredo
Executive Vice President Human Resources
McKesson Corporation

Jorge L. Figueredo is Executive Vice President of Human Resources of McKesson Corporation. The responsibilities of this position include talent acquisition, training and organizational development, compensation and benefits, diversity, community relations, and corporate communications and branding. Figueredo is succeeding Paul Kirincic who will be retiring from McKesson in 2008.

Prior to joining McKesson, Figueredo served as senior vice president of human resources at Dow Jones Inc., where he helped transform human resources into a strategic business function. He also played a leadership role in managing Dow Jones’ merger with News Corp. Prior to joining Dow Jones, Figueredo spent 22 years at Liz Claiborne, most recently as president of Liz Claiborne’s international division.

Recognized as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business Magazine in 2004, Figueredo holds a B.A. from Fairfield University and an M.B.A from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

 

Erin Flynn
Senior Vice President, Employee Success
salesforce.com

As Senior Vice President of Employee Success at salesforce.com, Erin Flynn strategically aligns the planning, direction and implementation of the company’s global talent community with its customer-focused, market-driven explosive growth. 

In her executive management role for all employee relations priorities, Erin manages talent acquisition, total rewards, leadership and employee development, operations, and internal communications for the more than 3,000 salesforce.com employees in over 20 countries.

Erin joined the salesforce.com in 2004 as Vice President of Recruiting, where she worked in concert with the executive team to drive salesforce.com's dramatic growth. Prior to joining salesforce.com, she was Director of Executive and Corporate Recruiting at PeopleSoft. She joined PeopleSoft from Idealab, where she led recruiting for the Silicon Valley arm of the venture capital firm and the companies it funded. Erin also spent five years as a retained executive search consultant in San Francisco.

Erin holds a B.A. in Literature from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She is active with the Salesforce.com Foundation as well as the Foster Youth Alliance, dedicated to empowering foster youth as they transition to adulthood, and California Youth Connection, promoting the participation of foster youth in policy development and legislative change to improve the California foster care system.

 

Gwen McDonald
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
NetApp

Gwen McDonald is the senior vice president of Human Resources at NetApp. She is responsible for creating the company's strategic vision for worldwide staffing, employee relations, training, organizational development, compensation and benefits. As part of her role, McDonald also works to preserve the unique cultural values and principles at NetApp, which have enabled the company to be ranked as one of Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Places to Work" for two consecutive years.

McDonald has more than 20 years of experience in human resources. Prior to joining NetApp, McDonald worked at 3COM Corporation for 14 years, serving in a variety of positions such as senior vice president of Corporate Services, vice president of Worldwide Product and Supply Operations, and director of Human Resources for the Business Connectivity Company.

McDonald also was the Human Resources manager for LSI Logic's Santa Clara operations and served at Fairchild Semiconductor for 12 years in various human resources positions, including as the senior Human Resources manager for the Linear division. McDonald holds a bachelor of science degree in human resources and organizational behavior from the University of San Francisco. She currently is on the board of directors for Springboard Forward, a non-profit organization whose mission is building career advancement capabilities for the entry-level workforce.

 

Donna Morris
Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Adobe Systems Inc.

As senior vice president of human resources, Donna Morris leads Adobe’s global human resources organization which drives the recruitment, development, compensation and benefits programs for more than 6,000 employees worldwide. Among her key priorities is advancing Adobe’s culture and reputation as one of the best places to work as recognized by Fortune Magazine in the United States and other publications around the world.

During her career, Morris has led both generalist and specialist human resources functions in the high technology, communications and government fields. Prior to becoming senior vice president in March 2007, Morris held several other management positions within Adobe Human Resources, providing leadership to the company’s global human resources activities. Before joining Adobe, Morris was vice president of human resources and learning at Accelio Corporation, a Canadian software company acquired by Adobe in 2002.

Morris has earned several industry honors, including Human Resources Professional of the Year in Ottawa, Canada. She is currently on the board of directors for Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties in California. Morris has a bachelor’s degree from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, and holds the Canadian Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation.

 

Marcela Perez de Alonso
Executive Vice President, Human Resources
Hewlett-Packard

Marcela Perez de Alonso has worldwide responsibility for HP's human resources initiatives, including workforce development and organization effectiveness, benefits and compensation, staffing, global inclusion and diversity, and HR processes and information management. She is also the Board Chair of the HP Company Foundation and a member of the board for HP Financial Services, the financing arm of HP. Since joining HP in 2004, Perez de Alonso has spearheaded a pivotal transformation to build a best-in-class HR organization aligned to drive results and optimize the company’s growth and efficiencies.

Previously, a long-time executive at Citigroup, Perez de Alonso has held senior-level roles in both operations and human resources, including the lead HR role for Citibank's Global Consumer Business - a 90,000-employee organization where she developed a host of breakthrough initiatives. Senior executive recruiting, diversity, variable compensation and employee survey programs are among the many worldwide efforts Perez de Alonso led during her tenure. She also was head of Citigroup's North Latin America retail business operations and was in charge of deposit products for the company's international retail bank.

Most recently, Perez de Alonso was recognized with the 2007 Hunt-Scanlon Human Resources Leadership Award for accomplishments in driving bottom-line results through effective human capital management.  This recognition specifically highlights the vital link of HR bottom-line business results.  One of only 10 women to be included in the ninth annual Hispanic Business Corporate Elite directory, Perez de Alonso was named one of the 50 Most Important Hispanics in Technology and Business by Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology magazine. She also was honored as the 2005 Corporate Executive of the Year by Hispanic-Net, a California nonprofit organization of executives and professionals in technology-related fields.

Perez de Alonso earned an advanced degree in organizational psychology from the Catholic University in Chile. She attended the Business Executive Program of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and received a certificate in finance and accounting.

Perez de Alonso currently serves on the advisory board of the Marshall Business School, University of Southern California.

 

Jill Smart
Chief Human Resources Officer
Accenture

Jill Smart is Accenture's chief human resources officer, with overall responsibility for the personnel management and capability development of all Accenture people globally. She is also a member of Accenture's Executive Leadership Team.

Before being appointed to her current position in September 2004, Ms. Smart was managing partner of HR delivery, which entailed overall responsibility for human resources operations and people development. From 2000 until 2003, she was head of the company's People Enablement business practice, which included training and knowledge management.

Prior to assuming HR management roles, Ms. Smart spent most of her career at Accenture leading business integration consulting work for clients in the financial services, government, transportation and health services industries. Her client experience focused primarily on integrating strategy, technology business processes, functional applications and human performance components to lead clients through major change initiatives.

Ms. Smart is a trustee on the board of the Accenture Foundation, a public charity that supports educational activities and disaster relief efforts. In June 2004, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Chicago by Crain's Chicago Business. She also is a director of the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, is a trustee at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, serves on the Civic Committee of the Chicago Commercial Club and sits on the President's Advisory Committee at the University of Illinois.

Ms. Smart joined Accenture in 1981 and became a partner in 1993. She received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Illinois and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.