Job title: Director Learning and Organizational Development
Department: Human Resources – Shared Services Organization
At Henkel since: 1997

How did you begin working with Henkel?
I started off with one of Henkel’s affiliate companies, Manco (now Henkel Consumer Adhesives), in the U.S. Henkel acquired Manco back in 1998. I started with Manco as a manager for Training and Development and made my way up through different positions where I managed Training and Development as well as Recruiting. In 2001, HR became a shared service function in North America, which meant bringing together all training professionals from the different businesses in North America into one team. I was placed in a leadership role. Recently this year we combined the roles between Henkel and Dial. Again, this means growing into a bigger team with more responsibility.

What are your job responsibilities at Henkel?
I am Director of Learning and Organizational Development in North America for Henkel Shared Services, which means that I lead the Training & Development and Management Development functions for Henkel and now Dial as well.

Are you traveling for your position at Henkel?
I travel between 25 and 50% of the time on average. I travel conducting leadership training and coordinating Henkel’s International Management Assessment Center, as well as attending various meetings in the U.S. I also get over to the headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany a few times a year.

Which projects have you worked on in the past?
I worked closely with headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany when we brought over the Henkel IMAC which is part of the International Management Assessment Center and worked with consultants, both from a domestic standpoint within the U.S. and then also internationally. This was very interesting and fulfilling to finally get the program working successfully. Most recently we’re working on the eTrain project which is an international learning management system we’re putting in for advertising, enrolling in training courses, documenting completion and evaluations. We started off with a group of about 16 people from different parts of the world who had similar positions and were able to pull the project together well.

Did you have a mentor?
Interestingly, until we became a shared service, I really was the first full-time Training and Development person at Manco. I never had a boss who was a technical expert in my area. There have been people who supported me in developing the needed skills for being a human resource professional.