Melissa Parnell

About Melissa Parnell

I am a Global HR & Talent Strategy Leader with expertise in executive development, organizational effectiveness, and workforce transformation. My passion lies in building scalable people systems that strengthen leadership pipelines, elevate employee experience, and enable organizations to thrive through change.Over the course of my career, I’ve partnered with C-suite leaders to deliver enterprise strategies that drive measurable business outcomes. Highlights include:Leadership Development: Designed and launched global programs such as Manager Academy and Leadership Essentials that increased new leader readiness by 35%, achieved 91% participation across leaders, and established a repeatable framework for leadership onboarding.Performance & Promotion Transformation: Built transparent frameworks that embedded values, reduced bias, and achieved 100% calibration of employees up to the CEO level—ensuring fairness, trust, and alignment across the enterprise.Organizational Agility: Partnered with executives to lead enterprise-wide reorganizations, aligning decision rights, structures, and workforce planning with evolving business needs while minimizing disruption.Talent Mobility & Career Growth: Developed career pathing and competency frameworks that improved promotion clarity, transparency, and succession planning.Employee Engagement: Implemented recognition programs and scalable learning systems (LMS) that increased morale and engagement by 28%, while reinforcing a culture of continuous learning.I bring a strategic yet hands-on leadership style, combining data-driven insights with a deep understanding of organizational culture and human behavior. This allows me to guide leaders through complex transformation while ensuring people strategies remain aligned to business outcomes.My background spans high-growth SaaS, technology, and global services organizations including Velocity Global, Anaplan, Cloudera, Q2, and Forcepoint. I hold a BA in Anthropology, am a SHRM-CP Certified Professional, and am Korn Ferry Certified in executive coaching and 360° feedback delivery.I thrive on partnering with executives and leadership teams to shape organizations where people and performance grow together.

Experience

1. Principal People Partner

   Velocity Global

   Aug 2023 — Present

Education

• Texas State University

  Bachelor of Arts