Bio:
Erica Desrosiers is Chief Talent Officer for Acadia Healthcare, responsible for end-to-end talent management. Over her career, she has practiced I/O psychology in various organizations across numerous industries for the last 25 years. She has been a results-driven and influential leader in shaping and executing the talent strategy and agenda across multi-billion-dollar revenue organizations, impacting over 3 million employees and leaders.
Prior to Acadia, Erica was Chief Talent Officer for Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, where she created and executed talent strategies that supported critical business priorities. She focused on advancing the depth and diversity of the talent pipeline, and identifying and developing emerging talent.
Previously, Erica worked at Johnson & Johnson as Head of Talent for Consumer Health and Head of Accelerated Development. Prior to J&J, Erica worked at Walmart in Bentonville, Arkansas, responsible for leading talent identification and succession planning, selection and assessment, leadership development, executive coaching, and performance management. Before joining Walmart, Erica was at PepsiCo, overseeing surveys, performance management, and coaching and development. Erica began her career in talent and HR consulting at SHL in Chicago.
Erica earned her Master’s and Ph.D. in I/O Psychology from Purdue University, and is a SIOP Fellow. She has been an active member of SIOP for nearly 30 years, and she has published, presented, and led workshops in the areas of coaching, 360 feedback, leadership development, succession, performance management, surveys, and talent management. She has served on the board of the Mayflower Group Survey Consortium and on the Conference Board Executive Coaching Council.
Goals Statement:
SIOP leadership is both a privilege and an opportunity to enhance our organization and elevate the impact of our field on society.
SIOP’s strategic goals are similar to those I’ve faced for 25+ years: build a future talent pipeline; increase our diversity; provide ongoing member development so we stay relevant and equipped for an evolving world; and ensure we do impactful work that is valuable and valued by organizational leaders.
One step toward strengthening our future I/O talent while ensuring we continue to confront real-world problems is to double-down on the bond between science and practice. As a practitioner I have always worked with grad students. This has evolved to “gig-style” projects for students that give them visibility into organizational challenges, providing slices of real-world experience and insights to guide future research. This is simple to scale up to impact our graduate programs, as well as an avenue to facilitate data collection and further research.
A struggle I’ve experienced through the years is adoption. We leverage sound theory, research, and practices, but it often ends with us because implementation relies on willingness of organizational leaders to listen and understand. We need to equip ourselves to translate our impact to the language of leaders, and we need to get more I/Os into top roles by broadening our education and experience to earn those roles.
I believe my talent management background has prepared me to further these goals and I would be honored to serve SIOP in this capacity to do so.