Whitney Riker
Professional Expertise
Whitney Riker is a Human Capital Management professional specializing in the planning and implementation of Change Management and Talent Strategies programs, with expertise in the Life Sciences industry.
Her experience includes work as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting, as part of Deloitte’s Human Capital practice, in the Organization & Talent service line. She has also worked at Applied Innovative Management (AIM) Strategies, a boutique Human Capital Management consultancy based in New York. At a global Pharmaceutical organization, she was responsible for managing a large-scale Change strategy and program for an HR technology implementation spanning 14 countries, 7 languages, and 60,000 employees. Her responsibilities including planning and execution of Change Management strategies and plans for all employees, leaders, and outsourced partners across Europe, Japan, and US markets. Additionally, she oversaw the global marketing campaign, escalation processes, and translation management efforts for the overall program.
At another global Pharmaceutical organization, she was responsible for planning and managing a large-scale Competency Modeling and Change initiative across the enterprise to support a new organizational focus on career development. This included alignment with other Talent Programs, as well as Change Management and Communications for the new tools, and a Career Development guidebook distributed to all employees across the organization.
She was also responsible for partnering with the Senior Leadership Team of a mid-sized Health Plan organization to support a transition to a new IT Operating model. Responsibilities included organization and role redesign, talent review sessions, and the development and execution of a comprehensive Change Management strategy and plan to support rapid adoption for the organization.
Among others, select previous clients include J&J, Pfizer, Merck, Genzyme (now Sanofi Aventis), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Rainforest Foundation US, and Bike & Build, Inc.
Whitney earned her M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. Her other interests include rock climbing, hiking, running, and music.
Current and Recent Consulting Assignments
Planned and managed the implementation of changes for a global pharmaceutical organization implementing HR Global Shared Services
Partnered with Senior Leaders to develop department-wide engagement strategy in support of organizational transformation
Planned, managed, and delivered comprehensive professional and technical Competency Model for QA, HR, IT, and Finance divisions of a global pharmaceutical organization, including conducting Senior Leader interviews, focus groups, and review sessions
Developed new organization design and roles for global marketing organization at a pharmaceutical organization to support of innovative global shared services marketing organization model
Conducted analysis and redesign of roles / responsibilities and structure for the Board of Directors of a non-profit organization in the process of re-aligning vision and goals
Developed comprehensive Change, Communications, and PR strategy for a non-profit organization re-vamping their outreach efforts
Education and Professional Affiliations
- M.A. Organizational Psychology from Columbia University
- B.A. Psychology from Rutgers University
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