Speaker

Melissa Kersey joined McDonald’s as the Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer for the U.S. business in 2017.

In this role, Melissa is accountable for developing and implementing the strategic vision for all aspects for the HR/People Function, which includes over 800,000 crew, 2,300 franchisees, and 40,000 staff across the United States.

She provides executive level leadership in partnership with the CEO, CFO and Executive Board members to develop internal growth, expand and build people capabilities, create and drive a high performing culture and strengthen business alignment of the People function.

Before joining the McDonald’s team, Melissa held a number of executive level roles with Walmart, acting as the SVP of Global HR Transformation and People Services, the SVP and Chief People Officer, and SVP of Learning and HR Strategy throughout her 9 years with the company. In these roles, she introduced new technology platforms to increase productivity and reduce complexity; she overhauled compensation programs; designed and implemented new workforce planning programs; led the development and launch of the company’s first ever Associate Value Proposition; led the company’s culture transformation; and much more.

Before her time with Walmart, Melissa spent 8 years with Alltell and 4 years with Target.

Melissa was born in Arkansas and raised in Kansas. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Communications minor from Emporia State University. Melissa currently lives near Chicago with her husband, 3 kids and 3 dogs.