Advisor Spotlight: Suzan Morno-Wade, Former Chief Human Resources Officer, Xerox

by
The Parentaly Team
Oct 16, 2025
Suzan Morno-Wade, former CHRO of Xerox

We’re honored to welcome Suzan Morno-Wade to Parentaly’s CHRO Advisory Board. 

Most recently, Suzan served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Xerox, where she guided global people strategy through significant enterprise transformation. Her career has been defined by aligning talent and strategy - and by championing employee investments as a driver of both culture and performance.

Suzan also brings us a deeply personal perspective. Early in her career, she had few role models who successfully navigated parental leave while continuing to advance. That absence shaped her own journey to parenthood and gave her a lasting commitment to ensuring others have the support, flexibility and leadership she wished she’d seen.

Parental leave is one of the most overlooked pivotal moments in an organization’s talent strategy. Parentaly ensures parental leave is handled with the right infrastructure to protect continuity, culture and performance.

Her belief that parental leave is more than a policy - it’s a test of culture, leadership and values - makes her a powerful addition to our board.

Below, Suzan shares why parental leave is too often an afterthought, how Parentaly is reframing it as a strategic advantage, and the role she hopes to play in amplifying this work to executive leaders.

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What inspired you to join Parentaly’s CHRO Advisory Board?

“Early in my career, I saw few executive role models who navigated parental leave while pursuing ambitious career paths. That absence shaped my own decision and as a result, I delayed starting a family beyond peak fertility years, ultimately requiring medical intervention.

The journey to parenthood was long and complex. At the time, I worked in an organization that hadn’t yet built the capability to support employees through fertility challenges or non-traditional paths to parenthood. I hesitated to ask for what I needed, fearful about how it might affect my career trajectory.

Those experiences stayed with me. I’ve spent my career in roles where people strategy meets business transformation, and I’ve seen what happens when companies truly invest in their employees. Joining Parentaly’s CHRO Advisory Board is both personal and purposeful. It’s an opportunity to help employers reframe parental leave as a strategic lever.”

Why is parental leave such an important issue in today’s workplace?

“Parental leave isn’t just a benefits policy. It’s a moment that tests an organization’s culture, leadership and values - and it’s often undervalued or misunderstood. Today’s leaders are challenged to support employees while also delivering business results and keeping employees engaged. Companies that get parental leave right build loyalty and resilience - not just in parents, but across teams.”

What’s broken about how companies handle parental leave today?

“Parental leave is often an afterthought - disconnected from business continuity and workforce planning initiatives. Too often, organizations rely on a paid leave policy alone, when what’s really needed is a framework like Parentaly’s before, during and after leave programs.”

What excites you most about Parentaly’s mission and this moment in time?

“Parentaly’s mission is exciting because it addresses an organizational deficiency. I want to ensure that their solution is understood by organizations who value both the operational and human sides of the parental leave equation.”

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To celebrate all we’ve accomplished, our team shared what they’re most proud of since joining the team:

I'm most proud of how much we have done to improve the single hardest moment for women's careers (going on parental leave) ... one that is often shrouded in insecurity and fear. We've been able to help advocate for so many women (and men!) in a way that is empowering and truly life-changing.

Allison Whalen, CEO & Founder

What am I most proud of? Growth! Growing a category of support that didn't exist before Parentaly. Growing from a one-woman bootstrapped operation to a global team of 25+ employees and coaches. Growing our overall impact for working parents, with companies investing in our parental leave programming to support employees all over the world. And growing as humans: new babies, new friends, new life experiences... all while tackling new and exciting work challenges together.

Rich Burke, Head of Growth

When I reflect on what I am personally most proud of during my time here, it's working alongside a team where we constantly evolve and optimize everything that we do in order to deliver the best possible experience for the folks going through our programs. It sounds cheesy, but there are processes that my team and I used to do 100% manually that are now completely automated and systems in place that have become second nature to how we operate. Working with such thoughtful, smart, and creative people is incredible.

Sara Ophoff, Senior Program Manager

I’m most proud about doing work that makes parents feel confident and empowered about their careers during a time that can be overwhelming and challenging – not only for our clients and users who go through Parentaly’s programs, but also with our advocacy work on LinkedIn, through our podcast and other big campaigns that make a difference. It’s been pretty rewarding to build a brand people know and love because what we’re doing resonates with so many employees’ experiences in the workforce.

Jenna Vassallo, Head of Brand & Marketing

I am so proud of the way we've approached growth with such care and intentionality - with every adjustment we've made to our offerings, we've never lost sight of our goal to provide the most supportive and valuable experience for our users. I love looking back on the early stages of conversations and building that have led us to the experience we offer today. Personally, I am extremely proud of the work I've done to scale and automate our backend!

Rachel Andes, Program Associate

I am most proud of the work we do every single day to make a positive impact on working parents! Everyday I get to work with an amazing group of people…we work hard but we also have fun.

Sarah Gruber, Client Partner

I'm proud of scaling an employee experience that consistently delivers positive outcomes for new parents and their organizations. Our north star has always been the user, and we never sacrifice our high quality bar!

Mansi Kothari, VP of Product & Experience

I feel a sense of pride that I get to work behind the scenes supporting everyone. I’m proud to see all of the collaboration between the team and how Parentaly positively impacts employees.

Leo Manalo, Executive Assistant

I'm most proud of going through the Parentaly program myself! I'm so proud to work for and promote this company in a time where parental leave and supportive policies are at the forefront of a national conversation. But beyond this, I'm most proud to call myself a participant.

Emmy Carragher, Enterprise Partnerships

I’m really proud of the work I did to expand our coaching bench globally at Parentaly. It was so rewarding, not to mention insightful, to connect with talented coaches from around the globe. This expansion not only enriched our coaching offerings but also strengthened our commitment to making a meaningful impact on families all over the world.

Nicole Hagemann-Bex, Senior Coaching Operations Manager

I have tremendous pride in the knowledge that what I am doing will change the career landscape for new parents, particularly mothers. This will make it more likely that my daughter can have a career AND a family without worrying about the unintentional negative impact of taking parental leave. Nothing makes me prouder than that.

Mindy Himmel-Brown, Strategic Partnerships

In my short time at Parentaly, I'm proudest of the work we're doing with our clients' ERG groups to elevate the stories and advice of actual working parents. It's such an impactful way to spread the word about Parentaly as an essential resource for all people growing their families, and the managers who support them!

Alex Diskin, Enterprise Account Manager

I'm most proud about using LinkedIn to connect with others. I was recently able to share a helpful return to work doc with 50+ new people looking to make a difference at their company. Was pretty cool that people from Chewy, McDonald's, Honda, Cisco, AWS, Walmart and more want to integrate just a piece of what we have to offer. Also...I'm so proud of the way I feel as an employee at Parentaly. For the first time in my career my personal interests align with my professional interests and I've never felt more motivated.

Jenny Hurwitz, Strategic Partnerships

I'm really proud of being able to help the Experience team by handling the supportive functions so they can focus on the bigger picture. It feels great to know that I’m making things easier for them and contributing to the team’s success.

James Mango, Executive Assistant
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Want to learn more about Parentaly's parental leave programs?