At Honch, we track senior HR appointments across the globe. In August alone, more than 3,000 HR leaders stepped into new roles worldwide - on top of the thousands we track every month across the UK.

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Whether you target globally or are interested in the trickle-down effect into local HR strategies, there have been some massive brands making big changes to their people functions over the summer.

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Here are ten examples from August to show the scale and complexity of HR leadership moves:

Carnival Cruise Line - Laura Quevedo, Chief Human Resources Officer (United States)
Carnival operates one of the largest and most complex global workforces in the travel industry. Laura Quevedo inherits a people function under pressure: crew welfare and labor practices have been in the spotlight, with incidents highlighting systemic concerns about pay, hours, and conditions. Her challenge is to align Carnival’s aspirational “Fun Ship” culture with the realities of maritime life, while managing talent retention across both onshore and offshore staff.

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Ericsson - Burak Bakkaloglu, Group VP People Digital Solutions & Analytics (Sweden)
Ericsson is transforming from traditional telecoms into a leader in 5G, 6G, AI, and cloud. Burak Bakkaloglu’s role is to embed a data-driven, tech-enabled HR strategy - building internal mobility, reskilling at scale, and breaking down silos. The challenge is less about technology adoption itself and more about ensuring managers and employees embrace new ways of working, making HR both high-tech and high-touch.

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Suntory Global Spirits - Adam Putz, VP Total Rewards & People Excellence (United States)
As the world’s third-largest premium spirits company, Suntory is pushing for global growth while promoting an entrepreneurial culture. For Adam Putz, the challenge is ensuring pay and benefits are competitive enough to retain top talent. Employee feedback shows culture is strong, but compensation lags behind market leaders - a serious risk to retention as competitors can lure away critical talent.

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Renault Group - Morgane Vidal, VP HR Learning (France)
Renault is reshaping its workforce for a future built on electrification and software. Morgane Vidal is tasked with accelerating the rollout of ReKnow University, the company’s global reskilling platform. With headcount declining overall, her challenge is to help existing employees adapt and thrive in new roles rather than relying on costly external hires, making learning the backbone of Renault’s long-term competitiveness.

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Salomon - Magali Clement, Chief People & Culture Officer (France)
Outdoor brand Salomon is expanding rapidly in Asia, the US, and Europe. Magali Clement’s role is to scale its purpose-driven culture without diluting it. With limited employee feedback mechanisms in place, her immediate priority is to get a true picture of workforce sentiment. Without authentic culture lived across all locations, rapid expansion could expose cracks in engagement and inclusion.

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EssilorLuxottica - Nikki Sas, Vice President Human Resources (United States)
With 200,000 employees across 150 countries, EssilorLuxottica faces one of the toughest HR integration jobs in the world following its merger. Nikki Sas must drive inclusion and cohesion across this vast workforce. While interns and early-career hires report a positive experience, broader employee feedback highlights pay and work-life balance concerns, suggesting a gap between the corporate narrative and day-to-day reality.

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The Hershey Company - Natalie Rothman, Chief Human Resources Officer (United States)
Hershey is an iconic consumer brand, but its HR challenges are real. Hourly workers in US plants report low pay, poor benefits, and weak communication with management - a “Grand Canyon of distance” between leadership and frontline staff. Natalie Rothman’s mandate is to close this gap, align wages with competitors, and make the company’s “Shared Goodness Promise” authentic across all levels of the workforce.

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Brown-Forman - Marcela Aidar, VP HR, Europe, Africa & APAC (Netherlands)
Brown-Forman, owner of brands like Jack Daniel’s, is managing the fallout from a global workforce reduction while also expanding in Japan and Italy with new distribution operations. Marcela Aidar must rebuild trust after layoffs while ensuring the right talent is in place to drive growth. It’s a classic HR balancing act: supporting commercial strategy while repairing employee morale.

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Porsche AG - Oliver Gutke, HR Director Learning & Competence Development (Germany)
Porsche’s pivot to e-mobility and digitalisation demands new skills across the workforce. Oliver Gutke is responsible for reskilling existing employees while maintaining the company’s strong culture and brand values. Employee feedback is highly positive overall, but concerns about pay not keeping pace with inflation risk undermining retention - an issue HR must address alongside learning and development.

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McAfee - Nora Cook, VP People & Talent (United States)
Cybersecurity firm McAfee has a strong culture and DEI record, but suffers from silos and weak cross-department collaboration. Nora Cook’s immediate priority is to improve communication and leadership engagement, ensuring teams work together rather than in isolation. This is a reminder that even in cutting-edge industries, human challenges - not technical ones - can hold back progress.

What This Means for You

These ten leaders represent just a fraction of the 3,000+ HR appointments we tracked globally in August - on top of the thousands we track every month across the UK. Each new appointment signals:

• A leader with fresh influence over HR strategy and budgets
• A window of opportunity before new suppliers and systems are locked in
• A chance to connect when they are most open to new partnerships

And that’s just one month.

See the Full Picture

At Honch, we don’t just show you the headlines - we show you every move, every month, across HR, marketing, and finance leaders.

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👉 Take a free trial and see who’s on the move right now.

Because if you’re not talking to them when they start, someone else will be.

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