Deb Wheelock is an accomplished and versatile Global Talent Management Leader with deep expertise in the global design and delivery of the talent lifecycle.
She is known for her ability to collaborate across functions to empower the HR team and to partner effectively with the business to drive inclusive cultural change.
Deb recently joined iCapital Network, a fast-growing fintech company whose mission is to power the world’s alternative investment marketplace. In her role as head of Global Talent Management, she oversees Talent Acquisition, Learning & Leadership Development, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Employee Experience. Prior to this role, she was leader of the global Talent Management and Organizational Effectiveness team at Legg Mason & Co., LLC.
Before that, she was head of Global Talent Management for the Risk & Insurance Services segment of Marsh & McLennan Companies, holding the lead talent management role at Marsh and Guy Carpenter, and earlier, at Mercer. During her tenure in these roles, she led the design of high-impact leadership development programming and streamlined the talent review and succession planning process, while improving the focus on visible diversity.
Deb is a member of The Executive Forum, The Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, the Fairfield County Senior HR Roundtable and the Association for Talent Development (where she has served on their Board Selection Committee). She is a past member of the Chief Talent Officer Exchange and the Senior Executive Board for Talent Management for Best Practices Institute. Deb has spoken at various learning and talent management industry events and was a member of the presenting faculty at The Conference Board’s Diversity & Inclusion Boot Camp. She holds a B.A. from Rutgers University (Douglass College), a certificate in E-Learning and is NetWorkWise Certified. She is a licensed and certified practitioner of the Hogan Development Suite (Advanced Feedback & Interpretation) and Insights Discovery.
More from Deb…
Deb says having a high EQ is extremely important for managers. It’s huge for allowing employees to feel like they’re being heard and thrive. She says:
“I think you won’t be surprised to hear me say, I think [EQ] is critical. Depending on which study you look at, at any one time, 30% or more of U.S. employees are open to or willing to jump roles. So the importance of creating that environment where people feel heard, where there isn’t an environment of fear for making mistakes, for understanding that the person sitting opposite you, in a meeting room, may have a whole host of things going on that you don’t understand.
And that may be causing them to react to you in a certain way. And the ability of managers especially to be in the right state of mind to deal with that is so important.
I mean, going back to my brain geekiness, there have been studies where they have hooked people up to functional MRI to detect which parts of the brain fire under different conditions. And even if you don’t know anything about neuroscience, I’m sure you’ve heard the sympathetic nervous system, which is that fight or flight. And then the parasympathetic nerve system, which is where you rest and digest.
If you’re in the fight, or flight, or freeze, it’s sometimes called — if you’re in that mode, you cannot learn, you cannot process information, and you certainly can’t be as productive as you should be.
So being able to create the environment where people can do their best, I think it’s really important. And really most of my career has really been focused on helping managers develop those skills. They have to understand when they’re communicating with someone one on one or with a team, that even the way you’re talking to someone will make a huge difference in what they can digest and take away.”
