I’M CHANGING WHAT’S POSSIBLE BY…

Enhancing employees’ experience and their careers

ASHLEY PETERSON

VP, Employee Engagement

STAMFORD, CT

Snapshot:
Location: Stamford, CT

Education: B.S. in Marketing and M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications

Interests: Spending time with family and friends, Attending concerts and music festivals, Watching and attending NBA games, Listening to pop culture and business podcasts

A bit about me:
I was born and raised in NJ as an only child with a close-knit extended family. Growing up, I was heavily involved in the performing arts, which contributed to my love for music. When majority of my family moved to NC, it became my “second home” and sparked my decision to attend North Carolina A&T – AGGIE PRIDE! Outside of work, I am a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where I dedicate a lot of time to community service focused on the development of the youth. Through my various relocations over the years, I have been grateful for the many experiences that helped me identify my true passions.

Critical Experiences:
My critical experiences beyond my role helped me identify my untapped passions and quickly broaden my knowledge of the business. Before leading communications and recruiting efforts for AAN+, I didn’t realize just how much I enjoyed engaging employees through communications and supporting the growth of future leaders—and I ultimately made it my goal to identify how I can make those extracurricular experiences part of my day job. Additionally, my in-role cross-functional and client-facing experiences provided me with valuable insight into different areas of the business that now help me in driving more efficient employee engagement initiatives.

Career Development:
I believe that my network has been the most valuable aspect of my career. We have a truly relationship-driven organization and, by leveraging this open culture, I’ve been able to share my career story and background with many colleagues who have helped me identify opportunities that I may have otherwise overlooked. The more I shared my story, the more quickly I was able to build a group of mentors and sponsors across the organization that helped me think strategically about each next step in my career, and advocated for my growth and new experiences.

Role Function:
I think the most unique part of my role is that it is a “hidden” Marketing role within HR, but it also allows me to tap into my own personal experiences in my time with the company to enhance the day-to-day experiences of the rest of the organization. With my background, I never thought I’d be in HR, but I was quickly able identify my opportunity to apply Marketing principles to how we engage our employees around their career experience. Coming from various client-facing roles, it has been interesting to see how much I learned about our employee experience and how I can now use principles from relationship management experiences to address the needs of employees.

Synchrony Value:
The Synchrony Value that I believe defines my career is Caring. When I think back to the various roles that I’ve held, they’ve allowed me to listen to, be empathetic for, and add value for a diverse set of individuals – whether it was our partners, employees across the organization, or university leaders and their students.

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