Barbara Peterson joined the Packard Foundation in 2018 as a Process Improvement Consultant in Human Resources. In this role, she was instrumental in transforming the HR processes to be more efficient and effective. In 2021, she was hired to be the process improvement manager and will continue to identify and lead projects across employee services in all areas of the Foundation, optimizing processes and the employee and grantee experience.
Barbara comes to the Foundation after 30+ years at Hewlett-Packard, Agilent and Keysight Technologies. She began her career in quality and progressed to become a certified Lean, Six Sigma Master Blackbelt lead and instructor, training teams globally. In her most recent roles at Agilent and Keysight, she drove end-to-end process design / transformation initiatives and led global Cloud HR implementations. Barbara created and rolled out the new Lean Six Sigma Simplified model to build faster paced, innovative cultures. Her efficiencies resulted in over $34M hard cost savings at Agilent, and significant improvements in process efficiency and time to market.
Barbara loves to spend time with her family, including her husband, 3 children and 2 grandchildren. She has taught Jazzercise for over 30 years and has a long-standing commitment to community service, leading special large-scale workout classes and local benefits. Barbara recently received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for 40 years of Outstanding and Invaluable Service to the community from Anna Eshoo/Member of Congress. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.