HR job moves: Here are the new HR leaders at Ahold Delhaize, Skillsoft, Criteo, and Cyber Defense Labs

Meet the CHROs and CPOs taking over and contributing to driving the organisational mission globally.

Here are the major promotions and job moves in the world of HR.

If you’ve been promoted or if you’ve moved to a new company, send us your profile and photo and we will announce your news here – just email lestert@humanresourcesonline.net.

Criteo’s new Chief People Officer is Manuela Montagnana

Online advertising company Criteo has appointed Manuela Montagnana as its Chief People Officer effective 9 September 2021. In this role, Montagnana will be responsible for leading the people team, ensuring equitable, transparent, and inclusive processes, and practices to support engaged and high-performing teams for Criteo’s global workforce of more than 2,500 employees

In addition, she will drive the strategy and execution of attracting, engaging, developing, and retaining top talent.

She replaces Denis Collin, who previously held the role for three years, and will assist in the transition.

Montagnana grew up in Germany and lived in France for over 20 years. For now, she will be based in New York with a global remit, with plans to relocate to Paris. She reports to Megan Clarken, CEO, Criteo.

Commenting on this appointment, Clarken shared: "In the last year, the workplace as we’ve known it has undergone massive change and I’m thrilled to have Manuela join Criteo to help provide a flexible, hybrid workplace that cultivates a culture of inclusivity, innovation, and collaboration.

"She will be a crucial part of our leadership team as we continue to invest in our most valuable asset, our people, in order to power the world’s marketers and media owners with trusted and impactful advertising."

Montagnana, on her new role, said: "It’s an exciting time to join the company in a year of growth momentum, and I look forward to optimising the people programme to create an engaged and productive employee experience that attracts top talent and nurtures development in today’s hybrid work environment."

Coming into her role at Criteo, Montagnana brings more than 20 years of experience as a people executive, leading global teams in the manufacturing, service, and technology industries. 

Prior to this, she served as Vice President, Head of Human Resources for Product and Engineering at Compass, where she was the business partner to the Chief Technology and Chief Product Officers. She was credited with leading major transformational projects including the opening of a new development centre in India, and completing talent integration following the M&A of two tech startups.

Natalia Wallenberg engaged as Ahold Delhaize's CHRO

Ahold Delhaize, a supermarket company, has appointed its new Chief Human Resources Officer in Natalia Wallenberg, effective 30 September 2021.

In this role, she looks forward to helping CEO Frans Muller and the company "continue its transformation while cultivating its great diverse talent and purpose-driven culture".

Previously, Wallenberg served as Syngenta Group's Global Head of Human Resources for the Crop Protection division, and for the Syngenta Seed Division, based in Basel, Switzerland, and then the United States. Prior to Syngenta, she served in HR leadership roles at Renaissance Capital and IKEA Real Estate, both based in Moscow, Russia.

Frans Muller, CEO, Ahold Delhaize, said: “I am excited to have Natalia join my executive committee as Global CHRO. She brings a broad international perspective, having lived and worked in both Europe and the United States, and a wealth of experience shaping and implementing effective business and HR strategies, leadership and culture development, organisation transformation, and talent management.”

Sharing her thoughts on the new role, Wallenberg said: "I am thrilled to join Ahold Delhaize, with its focus on health and sustainability, inclusivity, and value for customers." She added: "Additionally, the values of the organisation, especially care, courage, and teamwork are ones that I share and am proud to promote."

Cyber Defense Labs adds Denisa Bravenec to its senior leadership team as Managing Director of HR

Effective 4 October 2021, Denisa Bravenec is cybersecurity firm Cyber Defense Labs' Managing Director of Human Resources. In this role, Bravenec will oversee all HR initiatives, programmes, and operations. Bravenec has over 20 years of corporate HR experience.

"A strong human resources strategy aligns with the overall mission and vision of the organisation,” said Bravenec.

"My goal is to plan and execute a transformative human resources strategy at Cyber Defense Labs that will expand client partnerships, maintain and grow our highly distinguished expert team, and help build an organisation where employees enjoy working and thrive professionally."

Previously, Bravenec held the role of Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer for Examination Management Services, a private health services organisation, where she was responsible for strategically designing, transforming, and delivering HR programmes to over 2,500 employees in 35 locations throughout the United States.

Prior to that, she was Vice President of Human Capital for Lumenate Technologies, a network operations, professional services, and security operations organisation where she spearheaded innovative human capital management (HCM) systems that helped the organisation increase efficiency, quadruple its size and geographic footprint, modernise employee benefits programmes, and improve retirement plans.

Also joining the company's senior leadership team is Lara Shane as Managing Director of Marketing and Communications, who is responsible for overseeing all marketing, public relations, and internal and external communications initiatives.  

Kristi Hummel is appointed as Skillsoft's Chief People Officer

Corporate digital learning provider Skillsoft, on 5 October 2021, announced the appointment of Kristi Hummel as its Chief People Officer.

Hummel brings more than 25 years of experience leading people strategies for global technology companies, including designing and implementing best-practice programmes for talent acquisition, retention & development, workforce planning, compensation & benefits, and performance management.

Jeffrey R. Tarr, CEO, Skillsoft, said: "Kristi will accelerate our efforts to attract, retain, and develop the best talent in the industry, and advance our culture of leadership and learning. Kristi rounds out our newly seated, world-class leadership team, and we look forward to working with her as we continue executing on our organic and acquisitive growth plans, and creating value for our shareholders, customers, team members, and other stakeholders."

Commenting on her appointment, Hummel shared: "I look forward to hitting the ground running and building on the strong foundation Skillsoft already has in place as we continue helping our clients build their own future-fit workforce."

Most recently, Hummel served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Dell Technologies, where she led the talent & culture organisation. She previously led Dell’s global HR team, supporting the services & digital organisations, marketing organisation, Chief Customer Office, and Virtustream. In addition, Hummel spearheaded organisation design, change management, and culture workstreams for the Dell and EMC Corporation merger.

Earlier in her career, she served as CHRO of VCE, a category-creator converged networking company, and as VP HR Operations at EMC, where she led multiple M&A integrations, and was responsible for providing thought leadership in compensation & benefit design, talent & retention strategies, and workforce planning programmes.

ICYMI: HR job moves from Sime Darby Property, AIA Singapore, SEEK Asia, and Randstad RiseSmart

Image / Provided (L-R): Manuela Montagnana, Criteo; Natalia Wallenberg, Ahold Delhaize; Denisa Bravenec, Cyber Defense Labs; and Kristi Hummel, Skillsoft

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