Contact: Allison Matthews
STARKVILLE, Miss.--"From Mississippi to Midtown: Successfully Climbing the Corporate Ladder" will be the topic of Loretta Walker's address Friday [Feb. 3] at Mississippi State.
The 1:30 p.m. public program featuring chief human resources officer for Atlanta, Ga.-based Turner Broadcasting System takes place in the McCool Hall atrium.
Walker, a Mississippi native, is the latest guest for the College of Business' Leo W. Seal Jr. Distinguished Executive Speaker Series. Her presentation also will be available online via live stream at http://mymedia.msstate.edu/viewer.php?live=sealseries.
The lecture series is a memorial to the 1949 business alumnus from Gulfport who was longtime head of the Hancock Banking System and major benefactor of the land-grant university and its business college.
Walker is responsible for all human resources functions for the broadcasting network's domestic and international operations. Turner Broadcasting is a Time Warner company.
Under Walker's leadership, Turner Broadcasting's human resources organization and its achievements have gained wide recognition by media and professional organizations, including DiversityInc., which named Turner among its "Top 50 Companies for Diversity" for four consecutive years; Working Mother magazine, with multi-year placements among its "Top 100 Companies"; the Society for Human Resources Management, which presented Turner its 2009 SHAPE Award; and International Human Resources Information Management, which named Turner its Organization of the Year in 2008 for the company's human resources technology innovation.
Prior to her promotion in 2007, Walker was senior vice president of human resources and recruiting for the TBS Inc. entertainment division, where she oversaw human resources field operations, recruitment and staffing for the company's entertainment networks and businesses, as well as for Turner's Technology & Operations group.
Walker is a computer information systems graduate of Auburn University at Montgomery who holds a master's of business administration from Samford University in Birmingham.
In 2009, Business to Business magazine named her a "Woman of Excellence" and honored her again two years later with its IMPACT Award.
Walker has been recognized by CableFAX magazine among the "Most Influential Minorities in Cable" and among the "Most Powerful Women in Cable." Additionally, she has been listed among the "100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America" by Savoy magazine and was honored by Diversity Best Practices with its Diversity Officer Leadership Award.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see www.msstate.edu.
For more information about the Seal lecture, contact Heather Skaggs at 662-325-0159 and hskaggs@cobilan.msstate.edu.