Holly May

Current role at Petco

Holly May is chief human resources officer of Petco Health + Wellness Company. Pet Age reported that she took the role effective February 4, 2024, with a remit to build a people strategy aimed at profitable growth and tied to the company's mission. Milken Institute's 2025 conference biography, which is self-provided, says she leads a people-first HR and communications strategy linked to the business roadmap. She is based at Petco's National Support Center in San Diego.^[1][2]

At the time of her appointment Petco's chief executive, Ron Coughlin, described the company's employees, whom it calls partners, as its most valuable asset, and the company said it had about 29,000 of them. That workforce, spread across stores, hospitals and support teams, is the population her function serves.^[1]

Career path in order

MarketScreener's executive profile lists her earlier roles. She was senior vice president of human resources at Voya Financial from about 2012 to 2016, then vice president of global compensation, mobility and payroll at Visa from about 2016 to 2018. At Starbucks she was senior vice president of global total rewards and service delivery, a role MarketScreener dates from 2018 to roughly 2021. The Milken biography also names ING among her earlier employers.^[3][2]

She then became chief human resources officer at Abercrombie & Fitch, and in 2021 moved to Walgreens Boots Alliance as executive vice president and global chief human resources officer.^[3][1]

Walgreens Boots Alliance

According to her Milken biography, at Walgreens Boots Alliance she oversaw global human resources and environmental, social and governance functions for more than 300,000 employees. Pet Age likewise describes her as having led HR and ESG there. It was the largest workforce she had managed, and the post carried responsibility for programs that touched pharmacists, store teams and corporate staff across several countries.^[1][2]

Focus areas and leadership themes

Both the Milken biography and the Pet Age announcement point to the same themes: fair HR policies, employee wellbeing, mental health, inclusive workplaces and, in the conference bio, disability representation. The announcement describes her as known for building HR programs, policies and practices. Her speaker appearance at the Milken Institute Global Conference in 2025 shows her taking those topics to an outside audience, not only inside Petco.^[1][2]

Education and boards

May graduated from Wellesley College and holds a master's degree in finance from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. MarketScreener lists two board positions: she has been a trustee of the Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation since about 2020, and she is listed as a director of Village Practice Management Co. LLC; the Milken biography itself lists no board seats.^[1][2][3]

Why she matters

May's career runs through finance, payments, coffee, apparel, pharmacy and now pet care. She has led people functions for a global workforce of more than 300,000 at Walgreens Boots Alliance and now a specialty retailer of about 29,000 partners at Petco, and her brief at Petco spans HR and communications.^[1][2][3]

On The Executive List

Holly May is ranked No. 38 on The Executive List (October 2026) in the Chief Human Resources Officers discipline. The ranking reflects The Executive Review's own editorial Trending Score; it is not an outside award, and placement on the list is never sold. View the October 2026 edition.