Olivia Hughes

About Olivia Hughes

I create cultures and systems that enable employees to grow, learn and thrive. With over a decade of experience leading enterprise-wide talent, performance, and leadership development strategies, I design systems that retain top talent. I specialize in designing and executing programs that elevate culture, strengthen leadership pipelines, and drive organizational performance. Let\'s translate your company vision into action, and design the culture you need to get the outcomes you want!

Experience

1. Senior Talent Development Manager

   Uplight

   Oct 2024 — Present · CO, US

   Lead global talent and learning strategy across 450+ employees in North America, UK, and India, aligning initiatives with business imperatives and leadership goals. Collaborate with Talent Operations to understand current employee distribution, census and attrition data to align talent development strategy and initiatives to retain critical talent. Partner with Sales & Engineering senior leaders to define succession strategies, performance philosophy, and career pathways that enhance retention and readiness of critical talent.Crafted a 6-month mentorship program pilot across critical talent populations and largest ERG. 92 initial sign ups with a 99% match rate through collaboration and support by People Business Partners and executive team. Created resources, communication plans and executed on programmatic support which resulted in a 93% Critical Talent retention rate by Month 5 and 91% retention rate of non-critical talent. Leadership Development - Built a continuous learning model for leadership learning and development that included monthly touchpoints, just-in-time resources and workshops, and enhanced change enablement during organizational restructuring. Through my change efforts, the manager effectiveness score of the 2025 engagement survey increased to 81%, and content consistently received an average 85% relevance score, and 90% net promoter score.Successfully launched a new approach to performance management that increased opportunities for continuous feedback while reducing resource usage from People Team. Leveraged UKG Pro system to optimize performance feedback, impact ratings and key manager conversations (compensation changes, promotions, etc). Advise executives on organizational design, change enablement, and leadership capability building during restructuring and rapid growth.

Education

• University of North Texas

  Master of Science (M.S.), Behavior Analysis

  2012 — 2016

• University of North Texas

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Applied Behavior Analysis

  2010 — 2012

• University of North Texas

  Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Organizational Behavior Management

  2013 — 2016