Michael A. Peel is the managing partner of Peel Global Advisory, LLC, a consulting firm that provides human capital and board consulting support to public and private companies, colleges and universities, and arts organizations. Both in business and academia, Peel is known for his transformation and change management expertise, and for having built widely recognized human resources organizations at iconic institutions like Yale University, General Mills and PepsiCo.
Peel retired from Yale University in late 2017, after working directly for two successive presidents for nine years serving as the Vice President of Human Resources and Administration. Peel is recognized for having achieved the longest period of labor peace in the turbulent union relations history of the university and for transforming Yale’s talent development and succession planning processes. During his tenure at Yale, the diversity of the university’s top 4,000 leaders more than doubled.
Prior to joining Yale, Peel was the Chief Human Resources Officer of General Mills for more than 17 years, during which the company was recognized with more than 200 workplace honors, including being selected regularly by Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” and “10 Most Admired Companies in the World for Developing Leaders.” He also held various senior human resources roles at PepsiCo, including serving as CHRO for two of the company's largest and most successful operating divisions—Pepsi-Cola Bottling Group and PepsiCo International Foods.
Peel is currently the Chairman of the Advisory Board of GHSmart, a leading global leadership consulting firm, a Senior Advisor to the private equity firm Angeles Equity Investors, and Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee of DeVry University’s Board of Trustees. He has previously held board positions for the Human Resources Policy Association, Walker Art Center, Leadership in Education (LEAD), and the National Academy of Human Resources, as well as DeVry University, and was a board member of the Sleep Number Corporation, Pier 1 Imports, HireRight Holdings, and Garten Wellbeing.
Peel earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration from James Madison University and an MBA from Columbia University, He was awarded an honorary Master’s degree from Yale University and was elected by his peers in 2002 to be a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources, the Human Resources profession’s highest honor.
