Although G. Valerie Egan started her career as a programmer and project manager at Merrill Lynch, she quickly realized that her true passions lay with human resources and recruiting. She worked her way up the ladder, and was eventually able to advance within the organization to the human resources department. There, she combined her skills and interests to recruit for information technology positions. Ms. Egan spent 18 years with the investment management company before deciding it was time to move on. She loved the work, but wanted more room for growth. That led her to AT&T, where she served as the assistant vice president for staffing and college relations, and to Aon Human Capital Services, where she served as the assistant vice president of employment. Other roles include vendor manager at Johnson & Johnson and head of recruiting for North America at Linde (formerly BOC Gases).
At this point, Ms. Egan had been in the industry for 20 years, and she wanted her work to mean something. When she saw an opening with Girl Scouts of the USA, she jumped at the opportunity. Ms. Egan served the organization as the senior director of talent acquisition from 2015 to 2018, at which point she accepted the position of senior director of learning and development. She is excited about the role because they hadn’t had anyone heading up learning and development before her. Ms. Egan is responsible for working with the whole community to put together a learning management system, which will include online courses for employees. She is also conducting focus groups to learn various topics of interest. Thus far, this research has led her to start working on an affinity group for young professionals and to have toastmasters come to talk to the girls.
To prepare for her endeavors, Ms. Egan earned a Bachelor of Science in marketing management from St. Peter’s College in 1981 and a Master of Business Administration in information technology from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University in 1986. She then became a member of the Human Resource Outsourcing Association, which she continues to serve as a North American board member, and the Society for Human Resource Management. Notably, Ms. Egan is the first in her family to attend college.
When Ms. Egan has spare time, she enjoys coaching individuals looking for a job. She is also a volunteer with Therapy Dogs International. In her role, she brings her dog, a certified therapy dog, to hospices to help the patients.