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Johnna G. Torsone
Title: Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer, Pitney Bowes Inc.
PB Career
Johnna joined Pitney Bowes in 1990 as Director, Corporate Employee Relations and Labor Relations Counsel. In that position, she crafted and played a major role in implementation of the company’s diversity strategy, which has won Pitney Bowes numerous awards and recognition over the last decade. She also set the standards regarding how employees are treated through restructuring and transition and no significant litigation has resulted from these actions during her entire tenure. In 1992, she assumed the additional role as Executive Director, Human Resources Planning, Development and Training and Employee Relations with particular focus on senior management succession and selection. In that role, Johnna began the development of succession plan processes in support of the Board of Directors and the CEO, which culminated in the successful transition of the CEO in 1996 and again in 2006 and which has resulted in Pitney Bowes’ recent recognition by CEO magazine as among the top 20 companies for leadership development. In 1993, she assumed the role of Chief Human Resources Officer with overall responsibility at that time for executive development and succession planning, executive compensation, benefits planning and administration, diversity, employee relations and employment law. The role has continually evolved into a senior human resources strategy role and operates as part of the senior management leadership team and key staff support to the Governance, Corporate Responsibility and Executive Compensation Committees of the Board of Directors, including the role of Secretary to the Executive Compensation Committee for 12 years. On a daily operational basis, her focus is on key HR issues driving growth and profitability such as talent acquisition, retention and development, employee engagement, organizational effectiveness and total rewards as well as on the leadership of the human resources organization worldwide to ensure that the human resources professionals are the best they can be. Most recently, she has driven the Human Resources Transformation initiative, which has involved a complete redesign of the global HR function and the implementation of a new SAP enterprise HR system with manager and employee self-service capability.
Life Before PB
Before joining Pitney Bowes, Johnna was a partner with the New York law firm Parker, Chapin, Flattau & Klimpl, where she practiced employment and labor law for 14 years and prior to that she clerked for the Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York. A Chair of several professional and bar association committees, she was a nationally recognized leader in her field and an active participant in community and civic activities. She graduated from both Vassar College and Albany Law School with honors, finishing in the top 5% of her class at Albany and serving as Managing Director of the Law Review in her last year.
Personal and Civic Activities
Johnna was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. She currently lives in Stamford, Connecticut with her husband John. Her twin children, Katie and Christopher graduated from college in May 2003. Katie is now in her second year of law school and Christopher just completed his MFA in acting. Johnna is interested in history and current events, religion and music. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Health Policy Committee of the Fairfield Business Council, which has issued several notable reports on the state of health care and health costs in the state of Connecticut. She also served as a member of the Health Care Policy Council, a task force of senior insurance executives and leading employers in the state focusing on heath care public policy issues. She actively participated for over a decade, with INROADS Inc., a group dedicated to the enhancement of minority youth, where she served on the National Board and most recently served as Chair of the local Fairfield/Westchester chapter until 2005. She is a long time member of the Stamford Hospital Board, where she serves as Chair of the Quality Committee and recently joined the Board of Trustees for the Albany Law School and the Board of Westport Country Playhouse. She is also an advisory member of the Board of the Center for Family Literacy and a member of the Human Resources Policy Association. She has also been an active participant of the Human Resource Institute.
Leadership Style
When asked about her leadership style, Johnna replied that she believes her style is based on values of service, stewardship, accountability and integrity. She has a strong commitment to creating a sense of inclusion so that each individual’s unique abilities can shine.
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