Bill Allen
Former Chief Human Resources Officer Macy’s
Bill Allen is a Senior Executive with more than 20 years of experience as the Chief Human Resources Officer of three listed companies; he spent nearly one-third of his career living outside the U.S. As a sought-after advisor through his firm, Allen Advisors, LLC, Bill provides business solutions to clients in private equity and large-cap companies. He is a frequent guest lecturer at universities, including the business schools at Auburn, Copenhagen, Harvard, North Carolina, South Carolina and Penn.
In his advising role, Bill focuses on helping leaders better understand their specific needs/goals and devise strategies that maximize their organizations’ advantages to outperform the competition. Clients include private equity investment firms Sun Capital Partners and Logistics Capital & Strategy, LLC (Bill is an Operating Advisor), and Ahold Delhaize (as Operating Advisor), the HR Policy Association (Bill was a Founding Chair of its Global HR Initiative and Executive Compensation Policy Roundtable, a Board Member and Senior Advisor) and the Health Transformation Alliance (Bill was Founding Board Member, Board Vice Chair and Executive Committee Member, and Senior Advisor).
Bill’s deep experience began in PepsiCo’s Frito Lay division – where he played a key role in the HR function during Roger Enrico’s highly successful “Take Back the Streets” growth campaign – and flourished during his time as CHRO at the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, a $60 billion diversified Danish business conglomerate in the transport, logistics and energy sectors, helping lead the Group’s business and cultural transformation.
Bill also was Chief Human Resources Officer for Macy’s and Chief Human Resources Officer at Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. He began his career with RCA Corporation.
Other leadership and board roles are numerous and include being an Expert of the Practice with the Jack Welch Management Institute; Board Member of Live and Work in Maine; Member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business; Member of the Personnel Roundtable; Secretary/Treasurer of the National Academy of Human Resources Board of Directors; Advisory Board Member of GoGig, Inc. (an early stage AI powered recruitment startup); Board Member, Chair of the Human Resources Executive Public Policy Committee and Member of the Executive Committee for the American Chamber of Commerce in Denmark; a Non-Executive Board Member for Svitzer Marine in Denmark; Founding Chair of the Consortium for Global Talent in Denmark; and Co-Chair of the Working Group for the American Heart Association’s CEO Roundtable.
Bill has been named to Human Resource Executive Magazine’s HR Honor Roll and Auburn University Harbert College of Business Top 40 Alumni, and was an Elected Fellow for the National Academy of Human Resources. He attended the Human Resources Executive Program at the University of Michigan and holds a Master of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor of Science in Business from Auburn University.
Bill and his wife, Beth, have two adult children and live in Newry, ME, where they enjoy family, friends and the great outdoors.
