Patrick McLaughlin

2017 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI RECIPIENT

BA 1988, MA 1991, Communication

Senior Vice President & Chief HR Officer, Frito-Lay North America

Patrick is a 20 year veteran of PepsiCo with a broad range of leadership experience in beverages and foods. He joined the Frito-Lay division in 1996 as HR Manager at the Allen Park, Michigan manufacturing site and later moved to Denver to support the Mountain Sales Region. In 1999, Patrick went on to lead labor relations for the sales function before becoming regional director of human resources for the Northeast, based in Boston. Beginning in 2002, he was promoted to HR VP Operations, then HR VP Sales prior to leading HR and change management for the business innovation function.

In 2008 Patrick joined Pepsi Cola North America to lead the HR function through the acquisition of its two largest bottlers, a $7.8 billion transaction that made PepsiCo the largest food and beverage company in North America, doubled the employee population in the US and Canada and increased the world-wide sales to $66 billion. In 2010 Patrick returned to Frito-Lay North America as leader of the HR team for Sales and Supply Chain and in 2012 became Chief HR Officer for Frito-Lay North America with responsibility for nearly 55,000 associates in the United States and Canada.

Before joining PepsiCo, Patrick worked for Exxon USA based in New Orleans, Louisiana and developed his HR acumen in Organizational Development, Labor and HR generalist roles.

Patrick holds bachelors and masters degrees in organizational communication from Purdue University and is originally from Hobart, Indiana. He is an avid Boilermaker and Saints fan and enjoys travel, gardening, cooking, and football. He and his husband, David Talley, returned to North Texas in 2010 from Connecticut and remain active in the Dallas and New Orleans communities.