Lorna Hagen
Chief People Officer | OnDeck
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Human resources was not always Lorna Hagen’s calling.
“It wasn’t my original chosen profession,” she says. “I loved the hospitality industry and thought I would be a restaurant owner one day.”
Although she was born and raised in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Hagen and her family moved to Ithaca, New York. After finishing high school in Ithaca, she went on to earn a degree in hospitality business management at Cornell University.
The first few years of her career were spent in the hospitality field as a food service director at Aramark. Then, she moved to the retail industry at DKNY, where she was presented with a fork in the road: pursue operations or HR. She decided on HR and has since held senior roles at IMG, HarperCollins, Dow Jones, Ann Taylor LOFT, and now OnDeck.
Hagen’s career in HR has been full of milestones. At HarperCollins, she implemented the company’s first applicant tracking system, online job application system, and internal company portal, and she developed the first training programs for managers and staff. At Dow Jones, she rebuilt HR function by consolidating functional areas and by designing and implementing strategic directions for global compensation, talent acquisition, and learning and development. Now as the chief people officer at OnDeck, she oversees all of HR, internal communications, and facilities management.
Since Hagen joined OnDeck, the company scaled and completed a successful IPO—one of the largest venture capital-backed tech exits in New York history. And as the company continues to grow, she will continue to grow as a leader.
The Joys of Parenting
Outside of work, Lorna Hagen says that, with two ten-year-olds and a twelve-year-old, she has little time to devote to extracurricular activities.
“Raising three tweens in New York City is its own passion,” she says. “However, we are fortunate to live in such a great city and take advantage of all its museums, theaters, restaurants, and parks.”
She adds that she has had a good deal of time to travel for pleasure now. Some of her favorite destinations have been Charleston, South Carolina; Isla Holbox, Mexico; and Vieques, Puerto Rico. Next, she plans to visit Cartagena, Colombia, home to a series of colonial fortresses and monuments that are collectively a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
