Mary Plumstead has over 20 years of corporate experience as a senior Human Resource and Communications Executive. She numbers among her employers and clients Automatic Data Processing (ADP), American Express, First Data Corporation (FDC) and Global Payments, Inc (GPN).

 

Throughout her career Mary has specialized in leading and managing the human side of major organizational change, such as acquisitions, mergers, reorganizations, rapid growth initiatives and significant workforce reductions.  Her focus has been on stabilizing organizations throughout change, while achieving the desired business objectives.

 

Among her most notable accomplishments is the leadership of all human resource, compensation and internal and external communications initiatives for First Data’s IPO, (‘spin off‘ from American Express.  As Senior Vice President of Human Resources for First Data, Mary reported directly to the Chairman, served on the Management Committee and made frequent presentations to the Board of Directors. She also served  as EVP and CAO of First Data Card Services Group, providing senior HR leadership throughout a 7 year period of dynamic international growth.  Most notably, Mary created the framework for a ground breaking stock option program which was tied to shareholder return and customer and employee satisfaction.

 

Prior to First Data, Mary spent 10 years with Automatic Data Processing (ADP) where she progressed to Senior Vice President of Human Resources for their Brokerage processing companies. While there, Mary ensured the successful integration of over nine acquisitions into one core business.  This required extensive workforce consolidation and organizational restructuring.

 

Formerly the managing Director of a New York City based consulting practice, Mary worked extensively on acquisition due diligence and post-acquisition integration for the financial services industry, in both the U.S. and the U.K. She also designed and implemented numerous performance planning tools to help companies identify their most key and most promising employees.

 

Her accomplishments with the workforce at large are also quite extensive and include crisis management and communication during traumatic events, such as workplace violence, rapid elimination of 3rd party intervention risk, and numerous communications efforts designed to strengthen employee/management relationships.

 

In addition to managing the human side of change, Mary has led numerous executive development programs, including individual coaching, team development and conflict resolution.

 

Mary’s approach to her work is both creative and business relevant. As an HR generalist, she has developed and led lean, non-bureaucratic, service driven teams. Her hands-on approach to problem solving has resulted in measurable improvements in workforce productivity, morale and management/employee relations.