Elected: 2021
Current Term Ends: 2025
Committees: Governance & Compensation/Assessment (chair), Philanthropy & Engagement
Traci Hughes is Executive Vice President, Head of Global People Success Services at the multinational software giant, SAP. SAP is the world’s leading provider of Enterprise application software for companies of all sizes, connecting all parts of a business into an intelligent enterprise on a fully digital platform. Traci’s current role spans every operational facet of Human Resources in SAP globally, from customer facing HR business partners and in country HR directors to scalable HR services in the global service delivery team (including global mobility, payroll, global labor relations, employee data maintenance, employee self service, local HR services) to People Experience (people compliance, people relations) .
Formerly, Traci was CHRO Europe at Colgate-Palmolive. She was with the global consumer products company for over two decades, starting in North America, then relocating abroad with her family to live and work in Europe. She then became the CHRO for various geographies, including Africa and the Middle East, Eurasia, and Latin America. Prior to joining Colgate-Palmolive, Traci worked in total rewards at Kraft General Foods and she began her career in human resources at American Express Company, progressing through several roles.
Traci earned her degree in personnel and industrial relations from the School of Business in 1985 and subsequently earned her M.B.A. in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. As a student at IC she served in multiple leadership roles. She was Spokesperson for the Afro Latin Society, a Peer Career Counselor, directed performances for Kuumba Repertory Theater, was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi and Delta Mu Delta honor societies, and won a Campus Life Award.
Traci's volunteer activities for the college have included serving as Keeper of the Records for the ALS (African-Latino Society) Alumni Advisory Board; as a volunteer with ICUnity, a network of students, alumni, staff, parents, and friends of the college who support diversity-related programs and events; and as an Alumni Admission Representative. She and her husband, Carlos Velez ’85, returned to the college numerous times to speak at the annual Professionals Symposium, sponsored by the Ithaca Opportunity Program and Higher Education Opportunity Program.