Alan Kaye

Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resource Officer (Retired)
Mattel

Alan Kaye is executive vice president and chief human resources officer for Mattel, Inc., overseeing the human resources activities for a worldwide employee population of more than 30,000. His areas of responsibility span all aspects of global Human Resources, including compensation and benefits, leadership development, organizational development and training, recruitment and employee relations, succession planning, people systems and Human Resources policies, as well as global security and facilities. Alan has served 5 Mattel CEOs during his tenure and has not only recruited most of the senior Mattel talent to the company, but also helped facilitate the recruiting of most of the company’s Directors. Alan has worked extensively with the Board and has coordinated the activities with the Compensation and Governance committees. With more than 40 years of experience in human resources management for predominately multi-national organizations, Kaye is a member of the Mattel Leadership Team and reports directly to the CEO. He has been leading Mattel’s Human Resources function for the past 18 years and has worked in all global markets during his HR tenure. Prior to Mattel, Kaye headed Human Resources and other corporate services for two other FORTUNE 500 companies; one a multinational company in the construction industry, and one in the banking industry. In each role, besides working closely with the senior management team and Chairman/CEO, he supported the Board of Directors focusing on the operations of the Compensation and Governance Committees. Earlier in his career he also served as director of high technology consulting for the compensation consulting firm, The Hay Group. Kaye began his career with IBM Corporation serving 12 years in human resources management positions of increasing responsibility assigned to various domestic and international entities within the corporation. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an M.B.A. in industrial relations from the University of California at Los Angeles. Kaye is a frequent guest speaker at several graduate schools of business and Human Resource functional programs, both domestically and internationally. Kaye also serves as Vice Chairman and President of the Mattel Children’s Foundation Board of Directors, is on the Board of the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA and is on the Dean’s Advisory Council of UC Irvine’s Merage Graduate School of Business.

Day 2

Friday, February 5th, 2016

11:30 CHRO Power Hour I

It’s not often that you have the opportunity to sit with other CHRO’s and ask them the one question that’s burning in the back or your mind. The CHRO Power Hour will be just that time. Bring that one question that you would like to discuss to this open-ended CHRO conversation.

Certainly two topics that have had a great deal of press over the past year are corporate culture as discussed in the August 2015 New York Times article on Amazon, and other press around companies re-evaluating performance reviews and extending parental leave for top talent, but these are just two.

Day 3

Saturday, March 5th, 2016

09:20 Walking the Wire: The CHRO and the Board

It would be an understatement to say that the role of the CHRO in today’s organizations has changed, and is changing drastically. One aspect of that change that does not get a lot of attention, and can be one of the most critically important success factors, is the role of the CHRO with the Board of Directors. To be that full business partner, performance in this arena is essential. For many of those in the role today it has become a “learn as you go” experience but for those who aspire to reach the CHRO spot or who have just begun the walk on the wire it is a “catch 22”…CEOs and Boards are looking for senior HR talent with the board experience but there are very few in the HR hierarchy who get that experience unless you are the CHRO!

Alan Kaye has learned the hard way but feels others in the field should not. He has been the CHRO for three public companies over the last 25 years, worked under 8 different CEOs, and in each job worked directly with the board on a wide range of topics. He has been responsible for recruiting, orientating, and facilitating board education for dozens of directors. He has severed as Board Secretary, secretary of Compensation Committees, and Secretary of Governance Committees.

In this session, Mr. Kaye will review the current landscape on why the CHRO is now a key Board asset, the hazards of walking the wire with practical tips on dos and don’ts, and pose questions for the audience for a live discussion of unique experiences he has encountered in his tenure.