Eric Hutcherson is Executive Vice President, Chief People and Inclusion Officer at Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment. In this role, Hutcherson is a member of the company’s senior management and leads a global team across UMG’s record labels, publishing division and operating companies to align talent functions, amplify the company’s entrepreneurial-based culture, accelerate diversity and inclusion across all levels and territories, attract, retain and develop talent, accelerate the company’s social justice initiatives and build on UMG’s successful track-record of driving innovation by recruiting employees who bring new ideas, perspectives and skillsets.
Hutcherson joined UMG from the National Basketball Association, where he managed a team that drove the NBA’s global workforce strategy built on a commitment to attract, retain, develop and engage top talent for the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League and NBA 2K League. With a focus on people, culture and innovation, Hutcherson was responsible for leading global projects, processes and analytics that addressed business needs. He partnered with the leagues’ senior leadership to enable, empower and develop employees in 13 offices globally, guided by the league’s strategic direction.
Prior to joining the NBA in July 2014, Hutcherson was Managing Director and Chief HR Officer for the U.S. and Canada Division of Marsh, a leading global insurance brokerage firm. Before that, he held several leadership positions at Mercer, a financial services and human resource consulting firm, including Chief Human Resources Officer – Americas, and Global Leader for Mercer’s Outsourcing and Global Operations and Shared Services businesses. Earlier in his career, he worked for Foot Locker and served as Assistant Director of Public Relations for the Boston Celtics.
Hutcherson is also a motivational speaker and created a career development training program, “Say Yes to Success.” He serves on the Board of Councilors for the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, the Senior Advisory Council for the National Association of African Americans in HR, the Executive Advisory Committee for CNBC. He also served on the Executive Board for Covenant House New York and has been recently named to the Covenant House International Board. Additionally, he serves as strategic advisor to the Board of Directors for the Young Peoples Chorus; a multicultural youth chorus whose mission is to provide children of all economic and cultural backgrounds with a unique program of music education and choral performance.
Hutcherson earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from New York University and a master’s degree in Sports Management and Administration from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.