Howard Parkin
SVP HR, Europe
Mastercard
Howard Parkin is the SVP HR, Mastercard Europe and a Governing Body Member of the UK & Ireland CHRO Community.
Learn more about the UK & Ireland CHRO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I am currently SVP for 'People & Capabilities' (also known as HR) for Mastercard's Europe/UK region, based in London. I have always worked in HR and was fortunate enough to find my preferred profession very early on in my career. It's a profession that's continuously developing and the pace of change only accelerates, alongside the broadening scope of our roles, so no one can ever complain of being bored in our diverse HR operating environment.
Before joining Mastercard, I spent many years in the Healthcare/Pharma sector with an American multinational, which created opportunities for me to work in many different places throughout the world. Our kids were born in the US and Switzerland, and I have always enjoyed the diversity of an international career, although the UK remains a very solid base from which to build a career in HR.
I have worked with Mastercard through the past decade, managing their Europe regional HR activities, in partnership with other region peers and our corporate US team. Mastercard has grown dramatically as a Payments Tech company throughout this time, moving from c.10,000 to 35,000 employees through busy organic and acquisition activities, which has provided a wealth of personal development and learning opportunities.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
Empower and trust in the abilities and positive intent of individuals, in order to see the very best from them. It's a very solid starting place.
What is the greatest challenge CHROs face today, and how are you addressing it?
Our ability to adapt and adjust our businesses and the people practices needed for the pace of change that we see across markets, technologies and broader societal shifts remains a continuous challenge, especially for HR leaders to be able to anticipate and guide organisations forward.
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CHRO?
Don't think of HR as a standalone 'expert' discipline, but more as a critical building block for how to run and scale successful and sustainable businesses, with 'the team' being as important as any of the products or services provided.
How do you measure success as a leader?
Prioritising the need to build a cohesive and capable team (whether hired or inherited) as the critical platform for delivering on priorities, allowing people to step forward with a clear sense of empowerment that they'll try to do the right things for their customers, partners and colleagues (c.99% of the time).
What is the value of being a member of the Evanta community?
Anyone who believes that they have all of the right answers needs to invest more time in talking with other professionals – in order to quickly see that this is not the case. We are all still learning, testing and trying, so a little humility towards asking others to share views and experiences is a very wise thing indeed!
Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
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