Mariela Mercado Recognized by Influential Women as a Global Leader in Human Resources
Mariela is a global Human Resources leader specializing in employee relations, investigations, and strategic people management across public, private, and non-profit sectors. With over 18 years of experience guiding organizations through high-stakes challenges in HR and Employee Relations matters, she is known for balancing compliance with culture, protecting reputations while strengthening trust at every level of the enterprise.
Currently serving as Senior Manager of Global Employee Relations at Population Services International (PSI), Mariela built and led the organization’s first global employee relations program, supporting operations in the United States and more than 30 countries across Asia, Latin America, and Africa.. She streamlined fragmented case management processes, reducing case closure times by over 70% and cutting involuntary terminations due to underperformance by nearly 20%. In high-profile investigations, Mariela has been trusted to lead sensitive inquiries involving executives and country directors, navigating cultural nuance, compliance requirements, and organizational risk. Her recommendations have guided leadership toward decisions that averted litigation, mitigated reputational damage, and positioned the organization for long-term stability.
Previously, as Director and HR Business Advisor with Save the Children, Mariela quickly earned an Extraordinary Performance Award within her first four months by successfully setting up and stabilizing operations in Puerto Rico. Her ability to build trust with senior leaders led to her oversight of nationwide emergency response deployments, where she guided HR strategy and employee mobility under pressing timelines and complex legal frameworks. Earlier at Marriott International headquarters, she supported the Sales and Marketing teams during a period of global change, ensuring smooth employee mobility during the Marriott–Starwood merger and helping orchestrate workforce transitions in Brazil ahead of the 2016 Olympics.
Mariela’s mid-career includes serving as an HR Business Partner at PSI, where she delivered international trainings on anti-harassment and discrimination and influenced leaders to adopt proactive performance management practices. Her early HR foundation was built in Puerto Rico, with a focus on recruitment and employee relations, later expanding through experience at the American Institutes for Research. A brief period in clinical work with the Alexandria Community Services Board provided additional perspective before resuming her HR trajectory.
A lifelong learner, Mariela holds a Master’s Degree in International Human Resources Management from Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico. She is fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian, with basic French, and is a current member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Her work has been recognized through numerous awards, including the Save the Children’s Extraordinary Performance Award, Diversity and Inclusion recognition in AIR, Employee Performance for Cultural Competency in Alexandria Community Services Board, and induction into Marquis Who’s Who in 2025.
Mariela is recognized by colleagues and executives alike as a strategist, investigator, and trusted advisor who humanizes HR by combining transparency, compliance, and care. She has built a career on the belief that employee relations is not only about resolving conflict, but about creating a culture where people thrive, organizations grow stronger, and risk transforms into resilience.
Mariela’s success stems from over two decades of diverse global HR experience across multiple countries and sectors—including nonprofit, government, and corporate environments. With a strong foundation in employee relations, workplace investigations, and strategic HR design, she has learned to lead with both structure and empathy. Overseeing HR operations in the United States and more than 30 countries—particularly in remote and hybrid environments with vastly different employment laws—has deepened her leadership expertise and strengthened her ability to build trust and credibility at all levels. Her work focuses on mitigating risk while enhancing employee experience and engagement. Additionally, Mariela’s background in clinical psychology has been instrumental in shaping people-centered strategies that align employee well-being with organizational goals. She believes every step of her career has uniquely prepared her for this moment.
The most valuable advice Mariela has received is to be patient with herself and trust the process—to learn from mistakes, embrace constructive feedback, and view growth as an ongoing journey. Applying this mindset throughout her career has broadened her perspective and contributed to her continued advancement. It has also allowed her to develop trusted partnerships with leaders and executives, as well as build credibility with employees and managers seeking HR and employee relations support. Mariela also emphasizes the importance of curiosity—staying informed about industry trends and committing to lifelong learning—to remain adaptable and effective in the ever-evolving field of HR.
Mariela encourages young women to practice patience and kindness—with themselves and others—while staying open to learning, even when lessons come from difficult experiences, but at the same time, to remain respectfully assertive without neglecting self-advocacy. She believes kindness is a form of strength, not weakness, and can be paired with respectful assertiveness when advocating for fairness and equity. Early in her career, mentors reminded her that true growth takes time and that rushing can compromise the quality of work. Mariela advises focusing on the present, doing each task well, and trusting one’s instincts. Intuition, she notes, is one of the most powerful tools for navigating complex situations and building authentic workplace relationships, which, combined with data and metrics-driven approaches, can solidify and strengthen trust and credibility. Mariela recognizes that one of the greatest challenges facing HR professionals—particularly in the public and nonprofit sectors—is managing the impact of funding cuts while maintaining effective global support and navigating a demanding labor market. She also notes the increasing importance of networking, which can be more complex in international contexts where networking is less culturally ingrained. Despite these challenges, Mariela sees tremendous opportunity for innovation—reimagining how organizations support employees and foster productivity through flexible, inclusive, and sustainable approaches.
Mariela’s approach is grounded in four key principles: relationship building, industry awareness, patience with active listening, and balancing instincts with data-driven insights. She emphasizes the importance of cultivating and maintaining professional relationships while staying informed about industry trends to drive meaningful career growth. In leadership and employee relations, patience and active listening are essential for building trust and understanding. Mariela also values the combination of intuition and metrics—while empathy and human-centered thinking guide her decisions, she ensures that strategies and programs are validated with data to maintain credibility and provide reliable, effective advice. In her view, HR is inherently human, and true success comes from integrating compassion with thoughtful, evidence-based decision-making.
Learn more about Mariela Mercado:
Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/mariela-mercado
Influential Women
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