Katy Jones is a strategic thought leader in the leadership and talent development space who customizes talent strategies to meet business demands and accelerates growth in leaders and teams. Katy joined Medtronic in February of 2024 as Vice President, Global Learning & Leadership Development, where she has responsibility for leadership development for entry-level employees to executives, along with the organization’s global learning strategy. Prior to Medtronic, Katy was the Head of Leadership Development for Walmart with responsibility for enterprise leadership development, manager enablement, and executive coaching. Katy built her L&D career at Walmart for 10 years through onboarding, internal consulting and facilitation, early talent strategy, employee experience, performance transformation, high potential and executive development, and foundational leadership development across the globe. In recent years, Katy won two Make a Difference Awards at Walmart, one in 2020 for her rapid response work on the corporate intern program and onboarding efforts during the pandemic, and another in 2022 for her work on implementing an HR competency model and development strategy for the Global People function. Katy’s team also was awarded the Josh Bersin HR Hero Award in 2022 for excellence in HR development.

Prior to Walmart, Katy worked in higher education, where she taught public speaking and communication studies, held a leadership role in academic administration, and developed and recruited faculty members. Katy has a BA in Public Relations from James Madison University and an MA in Communication Studies from the University of Arkansas.

Outside of work, Katy recently relocated to Minneapolis, MN with her husband, Kevin; daughter, Charlotte (6); and son, Patrick (4). When she’s not chasing her kiddos, Katy loves travel, live music, sports, and spicy food.