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Electrification Software
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GE Digital Leadership

Kathleen McCarthy

Chief Human Resources Officer, GE Digital

Kathleen McCarthy is a strategic HR leader skilled in driving business value through large-scale global organization and HR transformation, and the development and delivery of innovative HR strategies and initiatives. Kathleen’s particular expertise is in championing talent at all levels of the organization to hire, inspire, and grow extraordinary talent and increase employee engagement.

Named CHRO in January of 2019, Kathleen is a key member of the Digital leadership team charged with evolving and transforming GE Digital into a wholly-owned digital company focused on providing data, predictive analytics, and state of the art software to GE businesses and customers. In her new role, she is helping stand up the new digital company including driving the search for a new CEO, CFO and Board, and is leading the integration of three GE businesses (Core Digital Software, Grid Digital and Power Digital) into a standalone, investable entity with 6,000 employees.

Kathleen joined GE Digital as Senior Vice President of Global Talent Management & Organizational Design in March of 2017 to help drive the company’s internal transformation as a digital industrial company while creating an exceptional employee experience on the leading edge of the future of work.  She was responsible for aligning the company’s culture and the employment brand with the talent acquisition, talent management and organizational design strategy.

Prior to GE, Kathleen was an HR leader at American Express, most recently as SVP and Chief Talent Officer where she led strategic direction and operations of the global talent Centers of Excellence including strategic workforce planning, organizational capability, talent acquisition, talent management, succession planning and assessment, performance management, learning and executive development, and diversity and inclusion. While at Amex, Kathleen designed and implemented Amex’s next generation HR operating model, completely changing the company’s entire approach to human capital. She also led the innovation of Amex’s approach to Talent Management, transforming and integrating the talent life-cycle and fundamentally changing the way Amex manages talent.

Earlier in her career, Kathleen was Global Head of Talent Planning and Acquisition at Thomson Reuters. She also was Head of HR for a number of technology/venture capital startups, and began her career at top consultancies including McKinsey and Bain.

Kathleen attended the University of Massachusetts and is also a member of the Talent Management Advisory Board for the Conference Executive Board (a Gartner company).