Cruising Altitude

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Matthew Owenby, Chief Strategy Officer and Corporate Services Executive at Aflac. Matthew and host Nicole Alvino discuss Aflac's commitment to fostering a supportive and respectful workplace culture, which translates into authentic and empathetic customer interactions. The discussion covers Aflac's hiring processes, their focus on dign...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Jess Harrah, Chief People Officer at KinderCare, a leading provider in early childhood and school-age education and care. Jess and host Nicole Alvino discuss KinderCare's commitment to supporting its 35,000 employees and nearly 200,000 working families nationwide. They explore the importance of employee engagement, the impact of offeri...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Sally Massey, Chief Human Resources Officer at Colgate-Palmolive. Sally and host Nicole Alvino discuss key strategies for building a stronger and more innovative workforce through upskilling, creating personalized employee experiences, and leveraging diverse perspectives. Sally shares her experiences and insights from her nearly 25-yea...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Ginnie Carlier, Vice Chair of Talent for the Americas at EY. Together, Ginnie and host Nicole Alvino discuss strategies for creating extraordinary employee experiences. They discuss the importance of wellbeing, career agility, and cutting-edge technology in shaping these experiences. Ginnie shares innovative approaches such as the Vita...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Alexander Senn, Head of People & Organization at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. Together, Alex and host Nicole Alvino discuss employee engagement and organizational culture. Alex shares insights about his role overseeing people and organizational development within Siemens' smart infrastructure division. Key topics include employee segm...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with CIO Alice Fournier, CMO Marjorie McCarthy, and Head of People & Culture, CHRO Lisa Mitchell-Kastner of ISS Americas, hosted by Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of Firstup. Together, they talk about how their collaborative efforts enhance the employee experience through technology and AI. The discussion covers the importance of persona...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Meredith Williams, CHRO at VillageMD, hosted by Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of Firstup. Together, Nicole and Meredith discuss the integration of AI to improve the digital employee experience in healthcare. They talk about how AI can take over mundane tasks, allowing healthcare providers to spend more time with patients, which inc...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Joey Wilkerson, Sr. Manager, M&A Employee Experience and Change Management at Cisco, hosted by Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of Firstup. Together, Nicole and Joey discuss strategies for fostering an engaging and purposeful workplace, focusing on internal talent movement, onboarding, and integrating new employees post-acquisition. J...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Elizabeth Bryant, Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Southwest Airlines, hosted by Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of FirstUp. Elizabeth and Nicole discuss the importance of employee engagement and its impact on organizational success. The conversation explores Southwest's employee-centered approach, leadership develop...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features a conversation with Brittany Polanco, Director of HR Innovation at Diageo, hosted by Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of FirstUp. They discuss the critical role of leadership in shaping the energy and attitude of work, whether in-person or remote. Brittany shares insights on the importance of empowering leaders, co-creating employee experiences, and driv...

This episode of Cruising Altitude features an insightful conversation with Tim Gerend, President at Northwestern Mutual. He previously served as Northwestern Mutual's Executive Vice President and Chief Distribution Officer. The discussion with host Nicole Alvino highlights the critical role of data in understanding and improving the employee experience, drawing a direct correlation to business suc...

This episode features an interview with Shaelyn Otikor, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Digital Workplace Strategy at Northern Trust in the Asset Servicing business unit. The Asset Servicing business unit contains 15,000 of the company's 25,000 employees across 20 countries. Shaelyn has been with Northern Trust for over 28 years. And today, our host Nicole Alvino is talking with Shaelyn a...

This episode features an interview with Andrea Ferrara, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for PepsiCo Beverages North America. PBNA is PepsiCo’s $21 billion beverage business and Global Foodservice with a portfolio that includes Pepsi, Gatorade, Rockstar Energy Drink, and more. Andrea is a 30-year veteran of PepsiCo and currently leads the HR function for their 60,000 employe...

This episode features an interview with Nicole Alvino. Nicole is a visionary entrepreneur and CEO with a passion for transforming the employee experience. As the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Firstup, a leading enterprise SaaS company, Nicole is responsible for driving innovation and growth in employee experience, engagement and communications. She believes that investing in employees is...

 Welcome to Season 3 of Cruising Altitude, the podcast to help you deliver exceptional employee experiences at scale. This season, we’re introducing our new host, Nicole Alvino, founder and CEO of Firstup. The mission of our podcast is to help you deliver irresistible employee experiences so you are empowered to retain and grow your top people, deliver a high performance organizational culture, an...

This episode features an interview with Richard McColl, Vice President of People Technology at Walmart. Richard applies Human Centric Design, Design Thinking, AI, and Technology to the associate experience at Walmart. Prior to joining Walmart, Richard served IBM for over 18 years, having held several leadership roles including Vice President and Senior Partner, Talent Technology Practice Leader. A...

This episode features an interview with Jami Schultz, Senior Director of Employee Relations and Development at Canon USA. Canon is a leading provider of consumer, B2B, and industrial digital imaging solutions. In her role, Jami makes sure employees love their jobs, and she solves people problems every day. In this episode, she’ll share what tools, ideas, and programs set her, the company, and empl...

This episode features an interview with Tope Sadiku, former Global Head of Digital Employee Experience at the Kraft Heinz Company, one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world with $25 billion in global sales. Tope has recently moved into her new role as the Strategic Planning Lead, Transformation, Agile and Digital Revolution at Kraft Heinz where her focus is to increase employee p...

This episode features an interview with Marlon Sullivan, EVP and CHRO of Johnson Controls International. Johnson Controls is a world leader in smart buildings and creating safe, healthy, and sustainable spaces. Here, Marlon works in every part of human resources. He focuses on talent acquisition, retention, and leadership development while defining a high performance culture that includes diversit...

This episode features an interview with Alice Fournier, CIO of ISS Americas, a workplace experience and facility management company that improves business performance and enjoyment. In her role as CIO, Alice drives technology-led transformation. She’s an experienced leader, and she’s dedicated to empowering her teams to grow and thrive. And on this episode, Alice is sharing how to foster belonging...

This episode features an interview with Francesca Luthi, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at Assurant, a global business services company that supports, protects, and connects major consumer purchases. It’s a Fortune 500 company that spans 21 countries, and partners with leading brands to create an enhanced customer experience. At Assurant, Francesca oversees business func...

This episode features an interview with Michael Trout, VP and CHRO at State Farm, leaders in mutual insurance and the largest property, casualty, and auto insurance provider in the U.S., with over 60,000 employees. Michael has been with State Farm for more than 30 years, having served in different leadership positions including VP of Operations in Human Resources. And on this episode, Michael is d...

This episode features an interview with Bill Taylor, Managing Director at MSCI, a global leader in investment services and solutions. Bill has over 20 years of experience dedicated to managing the digital infrastructure at companies like JPMorgan Chase. He brings with him an “engineering mindset” of solving problems instead of just fixing them. And on this episode, Bill is discussing the benefits...

2022 was a year of exploring new heights on Cruising Altitude. So we wanted to share some highlights with you. In this episode, we’re looking back on our conversations with leaders at companies like Sony, Lockheed Martin, Sam’s Club, and more. And celebrating what we’ve learned from them about supporting a world class employee experience.  Quotes *“I don't think experience is something that can be...

This episode features an interview with Christopher Shryock, SVP and Chief People Officer at Sam’s Club, a chain of membership-only retail warehouses. They have 600 clubs nationwide and another 200 internationally. Christopher heads all things HR-related for the over 100,000 Sam’s Club Employees. Before Sam’s Club, he spent about 14 years at PepsiCo serving in global HR leadership roles. And on th...