Hanold Associates Executive Search Recruits Chief People Officer for Impossible Foods
January 25, 2024 – Talent acquisition strategies at many large companies have become as complex as their balance sheets. And while chief human resource officers play a vital role in overseeing an organization’s broad-based workforce, the chief people officer typically goes beyond overseeing its people policies. The focus instead is on building talent as a key competitive advantage, with more emphasis on culture, which includes values, ethics, and mission. As companies look to build internal brand awareness and set their sights more on establishing and driving their own unique cultures, CPOs are coming more into vogue. And executive search firms have been stepping up their efforts to assist companies across the nation to find new chief people officers.
Hanold Associates Executive Search has placed Emma Hutchens as the new chief people officer of Impossible Foods in Redwood City, CA. Mayank Parikh, Val Lopez, Adam Watson, Catie Nelson, and Eleanor Tetreault led the search.
Ms. Hutchens brings a wealth of experience leading companies through pivotal growth. She has more than a decade of leadership in the beverage industry, most recently as the chief human resources officer at Heaven Hill Brands and previously as chief people officer at Stoli Group International.
As chief people officer of Impossible Foods, Ms. Hutchens will build upon and reinvent Impossible’s people strategy to support their evolution into a world-class company, and report to CEO Peter McGuinness to lead that transformation. She will be overseeing all people operations across talent acquisition, compensation and rewards, talent and leadership development, diversity, equity and inclusion, and strategic people initiatives. Her appointment comes as Impossible celebrates its third consecutive year of receiving the highest possible score on the 2023-2024 Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, demonstrating the company’s commitment to developing an inclusive workplace.
Impossible Foods is a tech-enabled food manufacturer with the mission of transforming the global food system by creating better ways to make meat and animal products without using animals. The company seeks to achieve this mission by innovating like a tech company, operating like a food company, and behaving like a good company. Impossible offers a range of substitutes for beef, sausage, chicken, pork, meatballs and other meals, which are available at certain restaurants and grocery stores. Impossible Foods sells products throughout the U.S., Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Macau, United Kingdom, Singapore, New Zealand and UAE.
Related: Hanold Associates Recruits Chief People Officer for Grenzebach Glier and Associates
Hanold Associates Executive Search is a boutique focused on HR, corporate officers and board directors. Its clients include the National Football League, The New York Times Company, Zoom, Fanatics, Domino’s Pizza, Under Armour, Gucci, Tom Brady’s TB12, Tiffany & Co, Cartier, Nordstrom, Kohler, REI, Live Nation Entertainment, Dick’s Sporting Goods, McDonald’s, Major League Baseball, Kellogg, Apollo, Big Ten Conference, Blackstone, Silver Lake, TPG, L Catterton, Northwestern University, Federal Reserve Bank, Electronic Arts, r, SC Johnson, eBay, Moderna, Great Places To Work, Fossil, Vail Resorts, AbbVie, Carnival Corp., Biogen, Allstate, Bridgestone, Wikimedia, Nike, Abercrombie & Fitch, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Walgreens and Ford Motor Co., among others.
Established Recruiters
Mr. Parikh is a managing partner at Hanold Associates and leads the tech & private equity practice. Since joining in 2015, he has progressed into leadership roles within the firm and has developed a specialization in supporting the needs of big tech, VC-backed and PE-backed clients. Mr. Parikh focuses on recruiting across the human resources function and has led engagements across geographies and industries, ranging from those that are scaling quickly and hiring their first-ever HR leader to those that are more mature but transforming and evolving in key ways.
Hanold Associates Recruits CHRO for Nordstrom
Hanold Associates has assisted in the recruitment of Lisa Price as chief human resources officer of Nordstrom, Inc. in Seattle, WA. “With nearly three decades of experience driving and creating culture for large global organizations and previous experience working at Nordstrom, Lisa understands that the success of our business starts with our people,” said Erik Nordstrom, CEO of Nordstrom. “Great customer service begins with a great employee experience, and I’m confident that Lisa’s expertise will be an asset to our team. We look forward to welcoming her back to Nordstrom.” Ms. Price joins Nordstrom from Domino’s Pizza, where she served as executive vice president and CHRO since August 2019.
Ms. Lopez is a partner and head of Hanold Associates’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practice. She specializes in recruiting executive level DEI, human resources and talent leaders. Ms. Lopez has over a decade of experience in rapid-growth, private equity-backed SaaS businesses, specializing in M&A integrations and change management. Prior to joining Hanold Associates, she spent 15+ years in progressive operational roles at Cision.
Mr. Watson is a partner with Hanold Associates where he focuses on recruiting top HR leadership talent for organizations. In addition to his executive search experience at Hanold Associates, he brings more than a decade of marketing and communications experience across multiple high-growth technology companies, including three unicorns based in the Silicon Slopes of Utah. Prior to Hanold Associates, Mr. Watson served as both director of communications and HR business partner for InMoment, a B2B technology company in the customer and employee experience space.
Ms. Nelson is an associate with Hanold Associates where she focuses on recruiting chief people officers, talent, HR and diversity, equity and inclusion leaders and their respective teams across industries. Prior to joining Hanold Associates, she worked as an investment banking analyst in the cross markets group at Goldman Sachs in Chicago where she focused on M&A advisory work.
Ms. Tetreault is an associate with Hanold Associates where she focuses on recruiting HR, talent and diversity, equity and inclusion leaders across industries and geographies. Prior to joining Hanold Associates, she worked as an admissions fellow at Kenyon College where she interviewed and assessed prospective students, presented at information sessions and organized visit days and events.
Related: Hanold Associates Recruits CHRO for Phillips 66
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
