Frederickson Partners Recruits Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Leader for Western Digital
June 18, 2021 – Global HR search firm Frederickson Partners recently placed Lise Edwards as senior director of equity, inclusion and diversity at data-centric solutions company Western Digital. “We’re very excited to have Lise join Western Digital in this important role,” said Lori Sundberg, executive vice president and chief human resources officer of Western Digital. “She brings years of experience in guiding EI&D strategic initiatives and programs, along with the proven expertise to help realize our ongoing goals for building diversity and belonging on a global level.”
“We are very pleased to partner with Western Digital in placing Lise as senior director of EI&D,” said Valerie Frederickson, founder and CEO of Frederickson Partners. “The company already has a strong understanding of how EI&D helps make teams more creative, productive and profitable. Lise has the deep expertise to help Western Digital continue delivering on this vision.” In her new role, Ms. Edwards will join Western Digital as a key member of the global HR team, and lead initiatives to promote and engrain best-practice equity, inclusion and diversity (EI&D) across all functions and locations in the company.
2021 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Recruiting Report:
Building a Balanced and Diverse Workforce
Hunt Scanlon Media’s latest market intelligence recruiting report – this time focused on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – will be available later this fall! The nation’s top executive recruiters are resetting expectations and looking for new ways forward to build balanced and diverse workforce teams for their clients.
According to executive recruiters, DE&I should not just be a priority, but an integrated part of every company’s leadership goals. Some companies have even tied DE&I metrics to executive compensation. But it’s more than that.
Part of building strong, diverse hiring teams means asking yourself: “Who is my company culture going to attract – and how will it engage people who are here?” This question can be very difficult to answer if you assume everyone feels welcome already just because you do. Fostering diversity, equity and inclusion within organizations is more than just the right ethical decision. “It is one of the best business decisions a company can make,” said Keri Gavin, a partner with Hanold Associates and leader of the search firm’s Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion practice. Hanold Associates is a proud sponsor of this year’s report. This report will help organizations prioritize DE&I as a business imperative that drives greater competitiveness, innovation and business results. Get it now!
Ms. Edwards joins the company from Robert Half International, where she served as director of inclusion and diversity for two years, driving diversity as a global strategic initiative. Previously she was at Salesforce as director of D&I and compliance, and as managing program director for Women in Leadership (WIL) for Americas, APAC and EMEA. Ms. Edwards was a co-founder of GenderAllies and an advisor at Women’s Startup Lab. She held earlier roles as director of D&I at Oracle, senior principal of D&I at Genentech and director of diversity at EMC. Ms. Edwards earned a health, physical education and recreation degree at St. Mary’s College of California.
As a leader in data infrastructure, Western Digital is driving the innovation needed to help customers capture, preserve, access, analyze and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data. Western Digital data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western Digital, G-Technology, SanDisk and WD brands.
Veteran HR Consultants
Founded in 1995, Frederickson Partners has completed over 2,500 HR executive searches and HR consulting engagements, maintaining relationships with more than 10,000 rising and established HR executives worldwide. Specializing in the placement of chief human resources officers/ chief people officers and their teams for high-growth employers, the firm also provides HR strategy, consulting and thought leadership.
Based in Menlo Park, CA, the firm is deeply rooted in the technology sector, with experience in biotech, clean energy, cloud and data storage, E-commerce, fintech, gaming, hardware, IoT, media, semiconductors, and telecommunications.
Frederickson Partners Recruits Head of People for ThoughtSpot
Frederickson Partners recently recruited Pam Holmberg as head of people for ThoughtSpot, a leader in search and AI-driven analytics. “Throughout the course of the pandemic, our customers have relied on us more than ever to help them embrace the disruption and change transforming every industry,” said Sudheesh Nair, CEO of ThoughtSpot. “Our people are absolutely essential to making that possible. As we continue to navigate this new, asynchronous working environment, I’m thrilled to have a leader like Pam joining to support our employees as they do the most exciting work of their careers,” he said. “Maintaining ThoughtSpot’s culture of selfless excellence is a top priority as we scale, and Pam is the right leader to foster innovation, diversity and well-being in our team around the world.”
Frederickson Partners recently formed an expanded diversity and inclusion (D&I) recruiting practice. The service is led by chief of staff Ben Taylor, a five-year veteran of the firm, and Ms. Frederickson. The firm reports that in June it saw a threefold increase in companies requesting D&I searches. Fueled by Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S., many businesses are committing to creating a more equitable and diverse workplace and now plan to hire their first D&I leader, the firm said.
“With the Black Lives Matter movement, CEOs and boards now aim to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace, to make right long-standing disparities in opportunity,” said Ms. Frederickson. “The movement has highlighted the critical importance of equal pay and promotion irrespective of race, gender and age. Experienced leaders who can fill a chief diversity office position are a small, highly sought-after pool of executives who have proven they can drive change within an organization and deliver results. We help leading employers find those in-demand leaders.”
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
