Shammara Howell, Corporate Vice President and Chief Talent Officer

Shammara was appointed Vice President and Chief Talent Officer, McDonald’s Corporation, in June 2020. As Chief Talent Officer, Shammara is responsible for Talent Attraction, Performance Management, Leadership Development and Organizational Effectiveness. She joined McDonald’s in 2017 and most recently served as Senior Director, Corporate Human Resources.  

Shammara is an accomplished human resources professional who draws on her varied experience and passion for talent and diversity to create high-impact people strategies. In her role as Senior Director, Corporate HR, Shammara led McDonald’s corporate people initiatives for the global functions, providing leaders with support and advice for cultivating high-performing, agile teams.   

Under Shammara’ s leadership, the role of the HR Business Partner team has evolved to move away from a service model approach towards becoming more embedded in the overarching business strategy. Over the last few years, the team has ensured the successful implementation of critical business initiatives by partnering with leaders to put the right talent in place. Additionally, Shammara helped to shape the successful relocation of McDonald’s headquarters, establishing a world-class culture at MHQ.  

Prior to joining McDonald’s, Shammara had a broad career with more than 12 years in human resources positions within the retail industry, including roles at PetSmart and Walmart. Throughout her career, she has built strong HR leadership experience in corporate and field HR, distribution, talent and diversity.  

Shammara holds a dual degree in Psychology and Sports, Health, Leisure & Physical Studies from the University of Iowa. She also holds a master’s degree in Human Resources and Employee Relations from Penn State University. Shammara is committed to lifelong learning and development and represented McDonald’s in the 2018 cohort of the Leading Women Executives program.