Ren Akinci

Ren joined Emerald in March 2021 as EVP, People & Culture Officer to expand and strengthen the company's diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts, as well as help us achieve Emerald's commitment to talent and organizational success. Ren has over 15 years’ of experience developing and maintaining successful employee relations that build strong company brands and attract top talent. Prior to joining Emerald, Ren held HR management positions across diverse industries including news media, advertising, hospitality, music, and retail, helping promote revenue growth by building scalable processes, and providing innovative training and development programs to create strongly supportive work environments for creative, sales and operations.

More recently, as Global Head of HR of an advertising holding company Ren and her team led employee relations, equitable employment experience best practices, workplace safety, learning, and development efforts for the organization.

In addition to a bachelor’s degree from Sacred Heart University, Ren holds Organizational Design and HR Diversity & Inclusion certifications from Cornell University. This training has strengthened her determination to support the empowerment of talent with opportunities for equal pay, training and career advancement. A passionate advocate for both people and animals, Ren is a volunteer with Animal Haven, an animal protection and welfare nonprofit, and assists individuals who are blind as a Be My Eyes volunteer.