The year 2020 will always be remembered as the year of challenges, learning, pathbreaking initiatives and for some, it will be the year of opportunities. As we are all set to welcome the new year with we witnessed some major movements in multiple genres. People leaders across the country left their current organization and started their second innings with a new company. In this piece, we highlight some of the significant movements which took place in the year 2020. 

Annella Heytens- The Chief People Officer of Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group stepped down from her role. After working with the company for 1.5 years, she decided to join Amazon Web Services as Head of HR. In her new role, she is responsible for setting the people strategy for the region as well as de-risking and mitigating risks in a fast-paced environment, nurture and builds a strong culture and employee experience.

Eileen Naughton- The Vice President of People Operations of Google stepped away from her role in February 2020. "We're grateful to Eileen for all she's done and look forward to her next chapter at Google," Sundar Pichai, the head of Google and its parent company Alphabet, said in a statement. Google added more than 70,000 employees during Naughton's time as head of human resources, according to Pichai.

Donna Morris- Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of Adobe, Donna Morris stepped down from her role. Under her leadership, Adobe's workforce has increased by 226% to more than 20,000 employees and its real estate/facilities presence has grown to more than 75 locations around the globe. She championed innovative workplace policies, including the introduction of expanded family leave, gender pay parity, and opportunity parity, all of which helped grow Adobe’s global diverse employee base.

Heather Ace - Qualcomm Incorporated announced the appointment of Heather Ace as Executive Vice President of Human Resources. She joined Qualcomm’s executive committee and reports to Qualcomm CEO, Steven Mollenkopf. Ace brings nearly 20 years of human resources experience to Qualcomm, having served most recently as the Chief Human Resources Officer at Dexcom, a San Diego-based medical device company.

Anne Lebel- Capgemini announced the appointment of Anne Lebel as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Group Executive Board Member, effective July 20, 2020. Anne brings to the Group over two decades of experience in leadership development and talent management on a global scale. She takes over from Hubert Giraud, who recently moved to a new role at Altran, part of the Capgemini Group. Anne will report to Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini.

Michael D’Ambrose- Boeing appointed Michael D’Ambrose as Executive Vice President of Human Resources. He succeeded Wendy Livingston, who has served in an interim capacity since April. In this role, D’Ambrose is responsible for the company’s leadership, learning, talent planning, employee and labor relations, total rewards, and diversity and inclusion initiatives. 

David W. Hollis- Flagstar Bank named David W. Hollis as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer with responsibility for all of the company’s HR initiatives. In this role, he oversees recruiting, training, business partnerships, HR information systems, compensation, pay and benefits, internal communications, employee engagement, and HR role in implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives.  

Nickle LaMoreaux- Arvind Krishna, CEO, IBM announced major leadership changes in the company. Diane Gherson, who has been IBM’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources for the past seven years, has decided to retire.  Nickle LaMoreaux succeeds Diane as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer. Currently responsible for HR in Cloud and Cognitive Software, Nickle is a seasoned HR leader who has a deep understanding of our business and the needs of our clients. Nickle has held a variety of HR leadership roles around the world and has worked on many large transformational projects while at IBM, such as the acquisition of Red Hat. 

Achim Lüder- Mercer, the human resources consulting firm, and a business of Marsh & McLennan, announced Achim Lüder as its new Chief People Officer. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, Lüder is responsible for driving Mercer’s global people strategy, including building a diverse workforce and inclusive environment for over 25,000 colleagues across 44 countries. He reports to Carmen Fernandez, Marsh & McLennan’s incoming Chief Human Resources Officer, and joins the Mercer Executive Leadership Team led by Martine Ferland, President, and CEO of Mercer and Vice Chair, Marsh & McLennan.

Yolanda Talamo- Heineken announces the appointment of Yolanda Talamo as the new Chief People Officer. The current Chief Human Resources Officer Chris Van Steenbergen will retire on 1 January 2021, following a distinguished career at Heineken and other companies. He joined Heineken in 2014 from Royal DSM and prior to that worked for close to 20 years for Cadbury Schweppes in various leadership positions. Chris will be succeeded in the Executive Team as of 1 January 2021 by Yolanda Talamo as Chief People Officer. Yolanda is currently Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Heineken Americas.