Lucy Helm
Session: The Power of Human Connection: Strengthening Organizational Culture in Uncertain Times
Lucy will share how Starbucks’ focus on human connection strengthened its corporate culture and helped its 350,000+ partners (employees) keep going through a global pandemic. Learn how Starbucks reinvented the partner experience by adapting quickly, embracing vulnerability, telling powerful stories and creating new forums for listening and connecting. Lucy will describe how leaders can adapt the post-pandemic workplace to embrace the best of the “new normal,” including adopting a hybrid of remote and on-premises work options.
About Lucy Helm
A Louisville native, Lucy Helm served as executive vice president and chief partner officer of Starbucks Coffee Company, retiring in December 2020 after 21 years with the Fortune 500 company. As chief partner officer, she served as the head of Starbucks Partner Resources (Human Resources) Organization, leading all aspects of hiring, pay, recognition, diversity & inclusion, and leadership development for hundreds of thousands of Starbucks partners (employees) around the globe. She was part of the senior leadership team, reporting directly to CEO Kevin Johnson. She began her career with Starbucks in 1999 as a litigation director in the Law & Corporate Affairs Department, taking on a variety of legal roles until her selection as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary in 2012.
Lucy has been a member of the board of directors of Mercy Corps since 2015. Since 2013, Lucy has served as the co-chair for the Campaign for Equal Justice and now serves on the advisory board for the Endowment of Equal Justice, supporting Washington's civil legal aid. She is an active volunteer with Parkview Services, a Seattle-based non-profit providing housing and other services to people with disabilities. Lucy is also currently on the board of the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth and is on the advisory board of Disability Rights Advocates.
Prior to joining Starbucks, Lucy was a principal at Riddell Williams P.S. in Seattle, where she was a trial lawyer. She was also an assistant director and advocacy director at the Center for Accessible Living in Louisville, Kentucky.
Lucy received her B.A. in political science with highest honors from the University of Louisville and is a cum laude graduate of the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. She was recognized as an Alumni Fellow of the University of Louisville School of Arts and Sciences (2008) and as an Alumni Fellow of the Brandeis School of Law (2014). Lucy is a graduate of Louisville’s Sacred Heart Academy where she currently serves on the cabinet of the Jean Frazier Leadership Institute.