Tricia Berg Layde is renowned as a global strategic reward (compensation) and transformation expert with more than 25 years of excellence with several multinational firms. Her interest in global business grew out of a love for language and cultural exchange during her year living abroad in Angers, France, and receiving a Certificat de Langue Francaise from l’Université Catholique de l’Ouest. A graduate of Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, Ms. Layde initially earned a Bachelor of Arts in French literature and a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1992. She started her career in global finance, working for a French bank, Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole in Chicago in treasury operations.
Ms. Layde’s appreciation for diversity of talent and culture continued to grow, and she subsequently decided to pursue a Master of Business Administration from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in 1996. In business school, she was recognized for language excellence and was a member the Phi Sigma Iota Foreign Language Honor Society. From 1996 to 1998, Ms. Layde served as an international assignee consultant for Ernst & Young. She also had the opportunity to be a short-term global assignee herself, living and working in Paris as a project lead for a prominent client company.
Ms. Layde found further success working in global compensation for McDonald’s Corporation from 1998 to 2004. From 2004 to 2007, she was active in developing a web-based compensation planning system as a global compensation manager for Kraft Foods. Ms. Layde further refined her skills with the Swiss headquartered chocolate company, Barry Callebaut, as a compensation manager from 2007 to 2008 and with Accenture as a global compensation infrastructure manager from 2008 to 2009.
Ms. Layde flourished as the director of global rewards at Smiths Medical from 2009 to 2017. During this time, she authored a 2013 WorkSpan article, “Transforming Global Total Rewards at Smiths Medical,” about her job architecture and reward work with the company. She also led the Women’s Leadership Network from 2015 to 2017. From 2017 to mid-2020, Ms. Layde has thrived as the head of global mobility and reward projects at Smiths Group PLC, for which she combined her expertise in global compensation with a savvy approach to implementing and simplifying processes and technology to facilitate global talent relocation. Presently, she is a global reward business partner in strategy and transformation at Smiths Group PLC. In this role, she is a strategic partner to leaders in the organization to drive higher value to internal clients, as well as drive reward transformation and simplification success.
Moreover, Ms. Layde is a certified compensation professional and a certified global remuneration professional. She was notably honored WorkSpan’s 2013 Author of the Year, has been a speaker at several conferences and was selected as a panelist on “A View from the Top: Beliefs, Values, and Culture.” She attributes her success to hard work and strong mentorship and hopes to dedicate more time in strategic roles in the coming years. Furthermore, Ms. Layde is a member of WorldatWork, the Minnesota Employee Relocation Organization and Evanta CHRO.
Personally, Ms. Layde has competed in cycling races, triathlons and marathons. In her free time, Ms. Layde enjoys cycling, skiing with her husband and daughter, playing the piano and reading.