Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, June 2025 – The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has announced the appointment of Janet Russell Norton as its new Chief People Officer (CPO). With a distinguished career spanning over three decades in HR strategy, leadership development, and organizational transformation, Norton joins the globally renowned leadership development organization at a pivotal moment in its growth journey.
As CPO, Norton will spearhead CCL’s global people strategy, aligning talent development, culture-building, and organizational effectiveness with the center’s mission to ignite positive change through leadership. Her appointment reflects CCL’s continued commitment to fostering a purpose-driven, inclusive, and high-performance culture that supports its impact across over two-thirds of the Fortune 1000.
Before joining CCL, Janet Russell Norton served as Head of Talent Strategy, Leader Development & Global Mobility – US Immigration Governance NA at Volvo Group. In this role, she led leadership and succession strategy, championed performance and engagement programs, and drove talent development initiatives across North America.
Previously, she held the position of Vice President, Global Human Resources at Newell Brands, where she was responsible for driving HR transformation across North America, LATAM, EMEA, and APAC. Norton played a critical role in managing people strategies for a $1.2B business unit during the COVID-19 pandemic, while supporting large-scale change and global supply chain transformation.
Earlier, she spent over five years as Senior HR Business Partner at Volvo, where she advised business leaders on performance, succession, and capability planning. She was a U.S. delegate for the creation of a Global Corporate University and helped harmonize field incentive plans and engagement frameworks across the organization.
Her prior experiences include HR leadership and consulting roles at Statewide Title, Inc., ERA Realty, Wachovia (now Wells Fargo), Response Design Corporation, and State Farm Insurance. Across these roles, she has consistently demonstrated her ability to develop competency models, launch performance systems, and guide senior executives through transformational leadership.
About Center for Creative Leadership
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is a top-ranked global provider of leadership development, helping individuals and organizations around the world unlock their potential and catalyze transformative change. Founded over 50 years ago, CCL serves a wide range of clients — from startups and government institutions to major multinationals — with evidence-based leadership solutions grounded in decades of research. With operations across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, CCL is trusted by more than two-thirds of Fortune 1000 companies and continues to pioneer innovations in leadership education and development.
Read Also : HR Is Not a Support Function—It’s the CEO’s Most Powerful Growth Engine
The Fine Balance: Navigating Work, Life, and Mental Wellbeing
From Gatekeeping to Gateway Building: Transforming How Organisations Create Access
Leadership In Talent Management: A Powerful Driver for Economic Growth
