New Tesla Director Brings HR Experience

By Kimberly Chin 

Kathleen Wilson-Thompson has played a quiet role in shaping the workforces of some of the largest companies in the U.S.

Ms. Wilson-Thompson, named to Tesla Inc.'s board this week, serves as executive vice president and global human-resources chief at Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. The 61-year-old HR executive helped develop a corporate university for training and career development at Walgreens, which she joined in 2010.

There, she helped streamline processes and made some organizational changes to help clarify roles within the HR department, she said in a 2014 interview with the Society for Human Resource Management Magazine, a trade publication.

Ms. Wilson-Thompson is the third woman to join Tesla's board and appears to be the only director with extensive human-resources experience. She is also the second black director, joining Linda Johnson Rice, who leads Johnson Publishing Co., the company behind African-American focused Ebony and Jet magazines.

Prior to joining Walgreens, Ms. Wilson-Thompson spent 17 years in various roles at Kellogg Co. as corporate counsel, human-resources manager and chief counsel for labor and employment. She was named to her last role there, as senior vice president of global human resources, in 2005 before jumping to one of the nation's largest drugstore chains.

"Kathleen brings a passion for building and promoting great workplaces," a Tesla spokeswoman said in a statement.

Tesla would be the third board seat of a publicly traded firm for Ms. Wilson-Thompson. She has been a director at construction aggregates maker Vulcan Materials Co. since 2009 and specialty chemicals company Ashland Global Holdings Inc. since 2017. She has served on various nonprofit boards including the Chicago Children's Choir and the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago.

She joined Michigan National Corp. as an attorney in 1986 and worked there until 1991.

Ms. Wilson-Thompson has a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a juris doctorate and master of laws degree from Wayne State University.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 28, 2018 15:45 ET (20:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.