Malissia Pendleton

Dynamic HR professional with over 20 years of experience in human capital strategy, organizational design, and leadership development. Proven success in enhancing employee retention and operational efficiency, exemplified by a 22% reduction in turnover and doubling internal promotions at previous organizations. Expertise in executive talent programs and workforce planning, coupled with a focus on culture and engagement.

Committed to driving results in fast-paced environments, leveraging deep knowledge to support organizational growth.

HR Consultant/Advisor at Elevate Growth Partners (2025-10 – Present)

Contract role

• Drove talent strategy, including workforce planning, succession planning, and leadership development for start-up/scaling environments.
• Built and optimized talent acquisition functions, improving hiring speed, quality, candidate experience.
• Led culture and engagement initiatives that strengthened retention and aligned teams to company vision and values.

Chief People Officer at P1 Dental Partners (2023-06 – 2025-07)

• Serving as the principal advisor to the CEO and Board on talent strategy, leadership effectiveness, and organizational readiness.
• Spearheading human capital due diligence and integration for multiple acquisitions.
• Crafting executive compensation and short- and long-term incentive plans aligned with EBITDA and retention goals.
• Developing a scalable HR operating model to support multi-state growth.
• Implementing ATS, onboarding, and HRIS platforms, leading to a reduction in time-to-fill by 50% and a decrease in open requisitions by 55%.
• Decreasing voluntary turnover by 22% through targeted leadership development and engagement initiatives.
• Orchestrating HR strategy for a workforce of 825+ employees across five states.

VP, Human Resources | Chief Learning & Talent Management Officer at BrightSpring Health Services (2017-08 – 2022-12)

• Directing enterprise HR, talent management, and learning strategy for over 50,000 employees across 12 divisions.
• Collaborating with C-suite and PE owners during restructuring, M&A, and transformation initiatives.
• Redesigning performance management and succession frameworks, which increased internal promotions to 28%.
• Enhancing top-performer retention by 82% through comprehensive talent reviews and leadership development.

Senior Director, HR Learning & Organizational Development at BrightSpring Health Services (2015-08 – 2017-08)

• Minimizing turnover by 5% through effective engagement and retention programs.
• Realizing $550K in cost savings through strategic vendor renegotiation and LMS redesign.
• Overseeing HR and OD strategy for 42,000 employees across multi-site operations.

Senior Manager, HR Learning & Operations Readiness at Yum! Brands, Inc. (KFC) (2002-03 – 2015-07)

• Managing training strategy for over 30,000 employees.
• Collaborating with executive leadership to formulate multi-year workforce and learning roadmaps.
• Directing enterprise leadership and operations training programs.

BBA in Business Administration & Management – McKendree University (2009 – 2013)