Episode 28
You’ve been let go: What comes next
This week, our guests, Michelle Fontana, Head of Global Processes, Kraft Heinz Company; Mark Slocum, Partner, Technology and Executive Recruiting Practice, Hirewell; and Roshini Varma, Director of Social Impact, Visa Inc., will talk through their personal experiences with being let go. They’ll discuss how to absorb the shocking impact of being fired or laid off, and what a truly great leader does next.
Guests
Michelle Fontana
Head of Global Processes, Kraft Heinz Company
Michelle Fontana has over 20 years of experience across numerous functions and industries including Procurement, Sales, Technology, and Continuous Improvement for various organizations, such as Deloitte Consulting, SAP Ariba (formerly FreeMarkets), Schering-Plough, and American Eagle Outfitters. Currently she serves as the Head of Global Processes for The Kraft Heinz Company, where there has not been a boring moment for the last 13 years! She is grateful to get with work with outstanding team members at KHC to improve processes and learn something new every day.
Prior to her current role, Michelle spent three years as Head of IT for HR and Corporate Functions at KHC where Michelle has led the strategy for our HR and Corporate initiatives on behalf of IT to drive efficiency and accuracy across the business.
Michelle is passionate about empathetic and inclusive leadership, and shares this passion an ally and member of the KHC Pride Business Resource Group (BRG), KHC Black BRG, and as a Co- leadership team member of the KHC Women’s BRG.
Michelle holds a BS in Business Administration from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA where she resides with her husband, Michael, their son, Jackson, and the best family dog on earth, Sunny.
Mark Slocum
Partner, Technology and Executive Recruiting Practice, Hirewell
Mark Slocum is a Partner with Hirewell and manages the Technology and Executive Recruiting Practice. He graduated from The University of Illinois in 2006 and has been with Hirewell ever since. The Technology Recruiting Practice is the longest-standing practice at Hirewell and has over 2 dozen Tech Recruiters. Since Mark joined Hirewell they have grown from 6 people to over 80 employees, raised $21M in Fall 2021 from a global PE firm, Prytek, and acquired an AI Recruiting Software Company. Outside of work, Mark lives in the West Suburbs of Chicago with his wife “Liz, sons Hayes (5) and Reid (3), and daughter Maeve (9 months).
Roshini Varma
Director of Social Impact, Visa Inc.
Roshini is an Engineer turned Product Manager, whose passion to create social impact and enabling others to make a difference led to her joining Visa’s Social Impact team. Roshini currently leads the global employee engagement programs at Visa, to engage employee in giving, volunteering and empowering small businesses.
Prior to joining the Social Impact team in early 2020, she was in the Visa Digital Products team for 5 years focusing on product management and analytics for a suite of consumer facing and back end products. Previously, she was in product marketing at Oracle and at a non-profit ‘Sustainable Silicon Valley’, and also worked as a Business Analyst at Infosys Technologies in the California Bay Area & in India. She holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration.
Even though she has been a Bay Area resident for the past 14 years, she still holds her native country India close to her heart. Roshini is an Indian classical dancer & teacher, who also enjoys reading fiction and spending quality time with her family.