PPD Names Ron Garrow as Chief Human Resource Officer

Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) has named Ron Garrow executive vice president and chief human resource officer (CHRO). In this role, he will provide leadership for the company’s global human resources function, with a focus on talent management and development, cultural transformation, and employee engagement and retention.

“Ron is a seasoned executive and human resource professional with 30 years of experience and significant breadth and depth across the spectrum of HR disciplines,” said Judd Hartman, executive vice president, general counsel and chief administrative officer for PPD. “He has substantial expertise in talent management, executive and leadership development, and leading cultural transformations for global businesses. His capabilities in these areas and others will be a huge asset to PPD as we build upon our talent advantage in the CRO industry to best serve our pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients worldwide.”

Garrow joins PPD from Belk, a $3.7 billion retail organization, where most recently he served as chief human resource officer, supporting 22,000 employees. Prior to joining Belk in 2016, he spent six years with Mastercard and served as its chief human resource officer starting in 2013, leading 350 HR professionals serving Mastercard’s associates in 68 offices and 210 countries.

Before joining Mastercard, Garrow served as the chief learning officer for Bank of America, leading a team of 1,100 professionals across the globe responsible for training 280,000 employees. He earned the bank’s first recognition by Training magazine on its annual Top 125 list of companies excelling in employee training and development, a recognition that PPD also has received the past seven years.

Prior to that, Garrow served as the HR executive for Bank of America’s chief financial officer group, where he was responsible for all HR activities for more than 5,200 professionals. Garrow joined Bank of America after 19 years at Wachovia, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility, his last role being chief learning officer, responsible for leadership and executive development, training and diversity.

Garrow graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he majored in business administration. He earned an MBA from Pfeiffer University and completed a certificate in organizational development from UNC Charlotte.

Forbes magazine named PPD to its 2018 list of America’s Best Large Employers. Forbes noted that company culture proved to be universally important across industries on the list. PPD’s culture is shaped by the company’s defining principles: a strong will to win; earning our customers’ trust; being game-changers; doing the right thing; and working together as One PPD.