Erin Hicks
Applied Materials
Senior Director, Regional & SPG HRBP Leader
Erin is a Senior Director and HR Business Partner to leaders in the Semiconductor Products Group of Applied Materials, the leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world. She has more than 20 years of experience in HR leadership roles, aligning and creating strategic organizational and talent strategies that drive business results. When she started in her current position, Erin became the first female executive staff member in her business group and a female demographic in the single digits. With a commitment to creating a culture of inclusion, she has led high-impact initiatives related to hiring and talent management and dramatically changed female representation. After creating an Inclusion Awareness Workshop and as the impetus for launching the business group’s first Employee Resource Group, the Women’s Professional Development Network, the engagement scores for women and minorities in her group have increased exponentially.
She plays an important leadership role within the company’s corporate HR function as well. She has led high profile projects tied to Applied’s corporate HR strategy, most recently as the HR lead for the company’s annual Strategic Review process and is serving on the team leading a transformational HR organizational redesign.
Prior to joining Applied Materials, Erin held HR leadership roles for other Fortune 200 companies such as Medtronic and Express Scripts. She holds a BS from Purdue University, has earned multiple professional certifications in her field and has been recognized with myriad leadership awards throughout her career.
Erin grew up in Indiana but, over the course of her career, she has lived in five different states. She now lives in Ipswich, MA with her husband, daughter, dog, cat and the many wild turkeys who hang out in her backyard.