Emma Woodthorpe
BA Business Administration, 1994
About me
- Chief Human Resources Officer at Mercury Systems in USA
- Studied: BA Business Administration (1994)
- Contact me on LinkedIn
About my career
My first role was as a Recruiter at Brooks Recruitment Agency in Bristol, UK. I got offered the role as I was temping for them after graduating, and talking to them about where I wanted to go in my career the Manager saw something in me and in my degree that she felt recruiting was a profession I could be very successful in, which I was until I made the shift in 2000 to HR Management when I relocated to Silicon Valley, CA to work for a start-up.
I am proud to be the Chief Human Resources Officer of Mercury Systems (#MRCY), a public technology company headquartered in Massachusetts, USA. I own developing and executing the people strategy for the company in a time of hyper growth. Driving innovative Human Capital approaches, programmes and services that make Mercury a destination employer of choice and result in the refinement of company culture, values and mission, ability to attract and retain talent so that the company can continue to scale. I am also responsible for providing leadership, vision, development, and overall management of the Human Resource function and team.
I was fortunate to learn skills in organisation design, HR management, management practices, marketing and finance and accounting. All of these have combined to help me be a rounded business leader who has an expertise in people strategies, but without the other skills I wouldn’t be able to do my job effectively or as successfully as I do.
My top tip for students
This may go against advice you are being given but the first job is important but not critical to your career path in most cases. So don’t stress if you get it wrong the first time or if you suddenly realise you want to change direction. If you find something you love the first time, good for you but for most there is a trial and error that happens. It took me 6 years and a move of 5,000 miles to truly find my career path and I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up until well into my 30s and that’s OK.
What I did make sure was that I worked for companies with great cultures where I felt I thrived, could provide me with interesting work and life-long learning. I’d check in with myself every few years to see if those needs were being met and if they weren’t, I would make an intentional decision on what to do about that.
I’m inspired by
Creative driven people who try to be the best version of themselves for the people around them.
Why I love Manchester Met
I love the culture of learning and support I personally received at the Business School especially as a mature student risking everything by going back to school.