BOSTON— Suffolk announced it has strengthened its executive leadership team by promoting Katy O’Neil to Chief Marketing Officer and Jackie Lewis to Chief People Officer. These strategic promotions will help expand Suffolk’s national brand presence, strengthen its commitment to the employee experience and position the company for sustainable growth.
Ms. O’Neil joined Suffolk in 2018 as the Vice President of Business Development and Client Relations in the Northeast region, where she was responsible for developing and implementing new business acquisition strategies. She was soon promoted to Senior Vice President of Client Services where she managed Suffolk’s national pursuit management team responsible for the development of proposal and interview strategies nationally. As Chief Marketing Officer, Ms. O’Neil will continue to oversee the pursuit management team as well as the corporate marketing team, where she will strengthen the organization’s marketing function, implement a strategic brand vision and align marketing with Suffolk’s business development and work acquisition functions as it pursues its ambitious growth vision.
Ms. Lewis joined Suffolk in 2018 as the Vice President, Talent Acquisition responsible for the national recruiting team. In 2021, she was promoted to Senior Vice President, Strategic Workforce Planning and Talent Fulfillment responsible for strategic workforce planning and developing and launching an internal talent identification and engagement function aimed at proactively engaging and maintaining top industry talent. As Chief People Officer, Ms. Lewis will be responsible for all aspects of human resources on a national scale and will work with Suffolk’s executive leaders to drive company growth, performance improvement, professional development and operational excellence throughout the country.
“We are thrilled to promote Katy and Jackie to these key executive roles,” said John Fish, Chairman and CEO of Suffolk. “I am confident their thoughtful, experienced and visionary leadership will help us strengthen our brand presence and continue to provide an unmatched employee experience to successfully recruit and retain some of the brightest talent in our industry. Their passion, strong work ethic and understanding of Suffolk’s culture and value proposition make them well suited for these important roles as we expand our operation into key new sectors and markets.”
Prior to joining Suffolk, Ms. O’Neil was Executive Vice President for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, where she managed the Chamber’s 100 annual programs and events. She also led business development and membership retention efforts, as well as the creation of the Chamber’s Leadership initiative which includes programs for senior executives, high-potential managers and emerging female professionals. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Colby College and her Master of Business Administration in marketing from Babson College.
Before her time at Suffolk, Ms. Lewis served as Senior Director, Talent Acquisition for C&S Wholesale Grocers, a large wholesale food distributor. In this role, she successfully recruited more than 10,000 hires per year and was responsible for building and implementing a centralized, cross-functional Talent Acquisition team to drive business objectives. Ms. Lewis also led Talent functions at Keurig Dr Pepper and at Sapient where she played a global role leading Talent Acquisition for North America, India, and London. Ms. Lewis earned her bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) and is a member of the Human Resources Leadership Forum, Forbes Human Resources Council and Chief, which connects women leaders.
