Business News
Tribune Names Melanie Hughes as EVP/Human Resources
Friday 17. May 2013 - Executive with Iconic Brands Gilt, COACH and DoubleClick
Tribune Company today announced the appointment of Melanie Hughes as Executive Vice President/Human Resources, effective immediately. During a 25-year career in the retail and consumer goods industries, Hughes has worked with such iconic brands as Gilt Groupe, COACH and DoubleClick, holding a variety of high-level executive positions overseeing human resources, operations, facilities, mergers & acquisitions and change management. Hughes will report to Tribune Chief Executive Officer, Peter Liguori, and be responsible for all of the company’s human resources functions including recruitment, compensation and benefits, organizational development and employee relations.
“Who we hire, how we manage our people, how we behave toward each other in the workplace, and our attitude toward the work we do is critically important to Tribune’s long-term success,” said Liguori. “Melanie’s talent, broad experience, and leadership skills will help us build a creative culture that invites people in and encourages them to question the status quo, to innovate, and to offer solutions that will enable us to continue evolving as an organization.”
Since August 2012, Hughes has led her own consulting practice, Org4Change, specializing in strategy and organizational development and building executive teams.
Hughes has worked with some of the world’s most well-known brands in retail and consumer goods. Prior to Org4Change, she served three-plus years as Chief Administration Officer for Gilt Groupe and was responsible for customer service, creative services, human resources, facilities, and sales operations. Under her leadership, Gilt grew from 120 employees to more than 1,000, and revenues jumped tenfold. She helped build senior teams, operational technology systems, an internal recruiting operation, and attacked cost inefficiencies across real estate, creative services, and customer service. Hughes also integrated three acquisitions into the operations and the culture.
Before her work with Gilt, Hughes was SVP/Human Resources at COACH, responsible for managing HR programs for ten thousand employees. She was instrumental to developing the talent management, systems, communication and people that were an important factor in the exceptional growth of COACH.
“The most important resource at any company is its people,” said Hughes. “Tribune has passionate, dedicated employees who clearly believe in the company’s mission. That’s a great foundation for growthI’m looking forward to the work ahead.”
From 2000 to 2005, Hughes oversaw human resources for the digital advertising giant DoubleClick, where she helped to lead the reorganization of the company, created the company’s infrastructure for operations in India, introduced a compensation model aligned with shareholder interests, and conducted due-diligence and integration for no less than 12 acquisitions and four divestitures.