Banking on a leader: Lisa B. Peters keeps human resources focused after a mammoth merger

HR Magazine, Nov, 2008 by Susan J. Wells

From her 10th floor office at the headquarters of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. at One Wall Street in New York, Chief Human Resources Officer Lisa B. Peters can see the grave site monument of statesman and first U.S. Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton in Trinity Cemetery. The view serves as a constant reminder of the rich historical past of the recently merged organization she helps lead--and as daily motivation to continue to drive the company forward.

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The $16.5 billion merger of The Bank of New York Co. and Mellon Financial Corp. closed in July 2007, combining two storied names in American finance and creating one of the largest asset-management and securities-servicing corporations globally. Founded in 1784 by Hamilton, The Bank of New York is the nation's oldest banking company. Mellon Financial, founded as T. Mellon & Sons' Bank in 1869 in Pittsburgh, grew under Andrew Mellon--who, like Hamilton, also became Treasury secretary and who, with his family, helped finance the U.S. steel industry.

For her work in leading HR integration of these financial powerhouses, the Society for Human Resource Management named Peters the 2008 Human Capital Business Leader of the Year, an award recognizing a senior HR professional who serves as a leading force in executing organizational strategy that directly impacts the organization's performance and prominence.

Magnitude of Change

Today, the 43,100-employee operation spans 34 countries and serves more than 100 markets. It has more than $23 trillion in assets under custody and administration and more than $1.1 trillion in assets under management, and it services $12 trillion in outstanding debt.

When the proposed merger was announced in New York on Dec. 4, 2006, developing and articulating a culture for the company was a priority.

"Our CEO, Bob Kelly, and I literally talked about it right away on the plane ride back from New York to Pittsburgh," Peters recalls.

An early challenge? Establishing the global leadership team while maintaining client focus.

No small feat.

"There was a daunting amount of work," Peters says. "The challenge from an HR perspective was to integrate two world wide organizations while also moving forward." "Lose no customers" was the mantra.

"I describe it as like trying to change the tires on your car while you're moving," she jokes. A 36-month integration plan was adopted.

First, Peters led the executive committee in developing the culture through creation of shared values--client focus, trust, teamwork and outperformance, the last one meaning exceeding expectations and surpassing competition.

The Right Connection

Employee-focused communications were quickly enhanced, expanded and fine-tuned. Some strategies include "MySource," an intranet site; CEO e-mails, webcasts and blogs; town hall meetings; newsletters; and manager-communications training. Two-way methods also play a role in culture-building. These include an "Ask Bob" e-mail box so employees can communicate directly with the CEO and an HR Client Service Call Center that fielded 23,111 calls in the first quarter of 2008 compared with 14,873 calls in the same period of 2007.

Then, before the merger closed in July 2007, Peters gave employees a chance to weigh in on the culture, mission and management through an employee engagement survey.

"It tested our readiness for change--and acceptance of these new values," Peters says. "We wanted to know: 'Are these values and goals believable to you? Can you live with them? How do you feel about management?'" The response rate was favorable on all counts, and the results formed the basis of the combined company's talent-strategy priorities.

This strong communications plan played a role in building a performance-based culture in 2007, Peters says, by introducing employees to the new values and brand.

At the same time, Peters was charged with creating a global HR organization--a group that now comprises 600 employees in more than 10 countries.

Some components she developed together with the HR team include:

* Compensation and incentive processes.

* Design and rollout of a global diversity strategy incorporating the launch of affinity networks.

* A global mentoring initiative.

* A companywide performance management program. She also created a group within the corporate HR structure: HR compliance and governance, which ensures that HR programs, policies and practices comply with existing laws and reflect ethical management.

'HR Chose Me'

Peters didn't dream of pursuing HR as her chosen field.

"It chose me more than I chose it," she says. After graduating from college, "I had the good fortune to get a great job at the greatest time."

She joined Comshare Inc.--now Extensity--in Pittsburgh as a consultant and account representative, where she consulted with HR directors of Fortune 500 companies on the design of statistical models and relational database systems for salary administration, HR planning, equal employment opportunity and general administration.

"It was a time when heads of HR were becoming responsible for a lot more than just the personnel aspects of the job," she says, broadening their reach into strategy, research and analysis. She was energized by the work.