Heather R. Laychak has more than 20 years of experience in human resources (HR) in both for‑profit and nonprofit companies across multiple industries, including aerospace and defense, academia, retail, and entertainment. She is currently the vice president and chief people officer at The Aerospace Corporation, an independent, nonprofit corporation based in El Segundo, California. The only federally funded research and development center for national security space, Aerospace performs objective technical analyses and assessments for a variety of U.S. government, civil, and commercial customers.
As a strategic advisor to the chief executive officer and executive leadership team, Laychak is responsible for developing and executing the corporation’s HR strategy to achieve business, people, and organizational objectives. She has oversight for all areas of human resources, including talent acquisition; diversity, equity, and inclusion; people learning and development; employee and labor relations; workforce planning and analytics; total rewards; people strategy and management; and organizational development. Laychak also serves as the management liaison for the Compensation and Personnel Committee of the Board of Trustees, responsible for trustee, corporate officer, and company-wide compensation and benefits, executive incentive plan management, officer succession planning, workforce engagement, and cultural climate.
Prior to joining Aerospace, Laychak served as the senior director of talent management at Mattel, Inc., where she was responsible for talent acquisition, talent management, and diversity and inclusion after supporting the global transformation of the company’s finance and strategic planning functions.
Before joining Mattel, she held a number of strategic HR leadership positions at Northrop Grumman, including director of human resources for the Space Systems Division; director of organizational effectiveness for the Aerospace Systems Sector; and corporate director of talent acquisition with accountability for the corporate headquarters move from Century City, California, to Falls Church, Virginia. During her tenure at Northrop Grumman, Laychak was a key contributor to business unit, sector, and company strategic planning, with significant involvement in business realignment, organization restructuring, and mergers.
Before Northrop Grumman, she was the vice president of human resources and academic dean for the School of Health Studies at Robert Morris University.
Education
Laychak earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Iowa and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Loyola University. She has certifications in crisis management, change management, and organization design.
Affiliations
Laychak currently serves on the board of directors for Analytics Services, Inc. (ANSER). She is a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow and formerly served as a board member for the National Kidney Foundation, Southern California Chapter, and on the American Red Cross Auxiliary Board, Chicago, Illinois.