Macon, Georgia, United States, January 2026 — Blue Bird Corporation has appointed David M. Pasternak as its new Chief Human Resources Officer, effective January 2026. In this role, Pasternak will lead the company’s global people strategy, talent development, leadership capability building, and organizational effectiveness agenda as Blue Bird continues to strengthen its position as a technology-driven leader in safe and sustainable student transportation.
David M. Pasternak joins Blue Bird after an extensive and highly impactful tenure at Honeywell, where he most recently served as Vice President, Talent Management & Learning and earlier as CHRO – Honeywell Connected Enterprise. Over nearly six years at Honeywell, he led large-scale digital, organizational, and workforce transformations, integrated multiple M&A transactions, and drove cost optimization initiatives while building future-ready leadership and talent ecosystems across global operations.
Prior to Honeywell, Pasternak held the role of Senior Vice President of Leadership Development and Organization Effectiveness at Hertz, where he shaped enterprise-wide leadership, capability, and organizational effectiveness frameworks across a global workforce of more than 38,000 employees. His work supported business scale, operational resilience, and performance transformation across diverse geographies and functions.
He has also served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Black Box and Beacon Building Products, where he was responsible for enterprise HR strategy, executive compensation, large-scale acquisition integrations, HR technology transformation, and organizational restructuring across multi-country operations. His leadership was instrumental in integrating dozens of acquisitions and building standardized, high-impact HR operating models.
Earlier in his career, Pasternak held multiple senior HR leadership roles at Rexel Holdings USA and General Electric, managing global succession planning, organizational development, HR operations, and talent strategies across multi-billion-dollar businesses spanning the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He also began his HR leadership journey at Tyco International, where he led acquisition integrations, labor relations, and large multi-site HR operations.
Blue Bird Corporation is a globally recognized leader in the design and manufacture of school buses, with a legacy dating back to 1927. Headquartered in Georgia, the company is widely known for its innovation in low- and zero-emission buses, safety engineering, and durable manufacturing. Blue Bird serves customers across North America and more than 60 international markets, operating extensive manufacturing, dealer, and service networks while transporting nearly 25 million students daily.
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