Mel Asbury

Senior Advisor, Talent Strategy

Mel Asbury, Senior Consultant

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With more than 30 years of coaching, consulting, and human resources-related experience in the energy, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries, Mel offers a vast amount of expertise in helping leaders and organizations achieve their highest levels of performance in dealing with today’s business challenges. 

Background & INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE

Much of Mel’s skill and capability was honed as Senior Vice President of Human Resources, in various energy and healthcare related industries, including Exxon Mobil and Glaxo SmithKline. His work experience and major accomplishments include involvement in acquisitions and mergers of organizations. He has also led initiatives to change the culture of organizations, improve the leadership skills of management, coordinate organizational redesign projects, and implement other innovative HR programs that impact human productivity. He has done team building to improve cross functional team collaboration, cross cultural diversity training and implemented total quality/six sigma management initiatives. Mel received specialized training in six sigma and EDI under W.E. Deming, the Juran Institute, Pope & Associates and The American Institute for Managing Diversity. Many of the companies for whom he worked achieved “Best Employer” status on a national level as a result of his HR leadership. In addition, he has taught at Purdue University and Southern University as an adjunct instructor, and also coached executives in a wide array of engineering and scientific companies. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and helped implement its first diversity initiative to assist members. He is also a past member of the World at Work Compensation Association. He has served on the board of United Way, Goodwill Industries, American Heart Association, Communities in Schools, and the NC State Human Resources Commission. Asbury was also named “Human Resources Professional of the Year” in North Carolina by SHRM and was inducted into the NC Human Resources “Hall of Fame”.  

Mel has extensive experience in the energy and research sectors having worked at the corporate, division, and manufacturing/frontline service level of such organizations. He has also served as an associate consultant and coach with Duke University, Korn/Ferry International, Learning Technologies, and the Center for Creative Leadership. Mel has also designed and delivered executive education programs in the US and internationally.

Talent Strategy

Mel has extensive experience in developing talent management systems that support an organization’s business strategy by identifying the competencies that are needed to execute the strategy, identification of the talent needed, and establishment of stewardship systems to track the effectiveness of a comprehensive talent management initiative.

Coaching Approach

Mel has a unique ability to coach executives on how to lead effectively during organizational change in order to maximize human productivity. Using his coaching philosophy and other leading-edge resources, Mel has a proven ability to help leaders quickly focus on their most important goals and to stretch their thinking about new approaches for moving forward that are practical.

Facilitation & Teambuilding Approach

Mel has done extensive team building/facilitation of both intact and newly formed groups in a wide array of various engineering and scientific organizations for over twenty years. His approach is to help groups quickly identify their strengths and opportunities for performance enhancement and to agree on a path forward with agreed upon norms for group functioning.

Relevant Talent Strategy Assignments

  • Developed and implemented a talent management system for a fast-growing telecommunications company that needed to develop the next generation of leaders.
  • Implemented a global talent management strategy for an international energy company with operations in more than one hundred countries.

Relevant Coaching Assignments

  • CEO, international specialties coatings and sealants manufacturer. Focus: implementing change in a very traditional organization and building a more participative management team.
  • Senior marketing executive with a global pharmaceutical/biotech company. Focus: enhancing strategic leadership skills and ability to influence the company’s executive team.
  • Global management consulting firm. Focus: comprehensive leadership development and influencing skills in order to interact with clients more effectively.

Relevant Facilitation & Teambuilding Assignments

  • Facilitation/teambuilding of a newly formed group in a biotechnology company that is responsible for enabling the rapid growth/startup of its new research facilities.
  • Teambuilding for an intact group in a government entity that was looking to reengage employees in an effort to improve customer service.
  • Facilitation/teambuilding of a cross functional group in a consumer products company that was looking to streamline and clarify work processes that cut across multiple departments.

Education & Professional Affiliations

  • Board Certified Coach (BCC) through the Center for Credentialing & Education, Inc. (CCE)
  • Executive Coaching certifications through Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), Korn Ferry, UNC, and CCE
  • Masters in Industrial Relations from Purdue University
  • Senior Professional in Human Resources Certification
  • Certified diversity and inclusion trainer and experiential outdoor teambuilding facilitator
  • Certified on numerous assessments such as MBTI®, Benchmarks 360, FIRO-B®, Hogan, etc.
  • Past member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
  • Past member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and ASHHRA.
  • Past recipient of SHRM’s “Human Resources Professional of the Year” award.