Melanie Hughes

Former CHRO, Moody's Corporation

Melanie Hughes is a transformational leader who has held a variety of C-suite roles over the last 20 years. She is a seasoned operational and human capital executive with experience across Technology, Financial Services, Media, and Retail. She is also a global citizen, having lived in six countries in Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America.

Most recently Ms. Hughes was CHRO for Moody’s Corporation, overseeing the entire Human Capital function and driving culture and organizational realignment to support a firm-wide strategic change initiative. She oversaw a successful CEO transition, helped lead the company successfully through the pandemic, and evolved the culture to a standard that achieved “Most Loved Companies” award by Newsweek.

Earlier in her career Ms. Hughes joined Gilt Groupe in its infancy and supported its growth to a $1 billion valuation; she was responsible for operations including sales operations, offshoring, creative/studios, real estate, facilities, and building the executive team. In a prior role at Tribune she was responsible for Human Capital, driving culture change as the company emerged from bankruptcy; restructuring the company through a spinoff of the publishing business; doubling the size of the broadcast business through acquisition; and building the digital arm of the media organization. Ms. Hughes joined DoubleClick at the height of the dot- com boom, building the talent infrastructure, managing through the restructuring in response to the technology crash, and changing the culture to facilitate the success and regrowth of the of the company—resulting in the initial sale to Hellman & Friedman and eventually Google.

Over the last 20 years Ms. Hughes has managed the Governance & HR committees of her company’s boards, setting the agenda through times of growth, change, and disruption. She is highly experienced in the boardroom and has been a trusted advisor to Committee Chairs. Until recently, she served on the Moody’s Foundation board, and she currently sits on the advisory board of Security Scorecard, Mattermost and Contemporary Leadership Advisors. Her executive coaching practice focuses on CEOs and CPOs and incorporates strategy and team-building for the C-suite. Ms. Hughes has also worked on philanthropic initiatives in Nicaragua (where she has a residence), setting up educational and dental programs for the community.

Ms. Hughes holds an BSc. (Hons.) degree in Psychology from Brunel (London) and an MBA from INSEAD (France). She enjoys playing competitive backgammon and sailing, which is a passion.