Dessalen Wood, CHRP, is an innovative HR executive, seasoned speaker, and coach. She specializes in passionately leading Learning and Development and Human Resources teams at some of North America’s most-respected organizations. Dessalen has over 25 years of experience in national corporations such as Reitman’s Canada, Hudson’s Bay Company, The Children’s Place and The Disney Stores. In 2019 she left her role as Vice President, Talent Development at Cineplex Entertainment to join Thoughtexchange in the newly created role of Chief People Officer. Thoughtexchange’s community intelligence software empowers leaders to find common ground, inspire trust and use data to make decisions that get genuine support.

In her tenure, Cineplex was a 3-time winner of the Waterstone Top 10 Most Admired Corporate Culture award, in addition to having been recognized by the Retail Council of Canada, with their award for Talent Development in 2015.

Throughout her career, Dessalen has coached senior leaders and built teams from the ground up, in addition to designing and delivering multiple original programs. The results have been engaging corporate cultures and high performing leaders at all levels.