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Governance in Action: Mirian Graddick-Weir on Elevating Board Performance Through Human Capital Strategy

By Fleur Segal
September 2025

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At a glance

  • Mirian Graddick-Weir’s experience as CHRO has shaped her ability to ask the right questions, guide CEO succession processes and elevate board effectiveness. For Graddick-Weir, human capital is a strategic lever.
  • As a board member, Graddick-Weir offers more than just an understanding of the HR function. She brings valuable expertise on CEO succession processes, board composition and the talent challenges that arise during transformations and strategic inflection points.
  • Graddick-Weir’s board peers credit her for bringing a combination of warmth, empathy and expertise to her role as a director.
  • Graddick-Weir’s success as a director aligns with her belief that CHROs must be prepared to lead in a way that goes further than simply overseeing their function.

Mirian Graddick-Weir Mirian Graddick-Weir has spent her career at the intersection of business transformation, governance and human capital strategy. With board service at Yum! Brands (where she chairs the Nominating & Governance Committee) and Booking Holdings (where she chairs the Talent & Compensation Committee), Graddick-Weir brings a rare combination of operational insight, cross-industry fluency and boardroom leadership. Her experience as CHRO at two complex global organizations, Merck and AT&T, has shaped her ability to ask the right questions, guide CEO succession processes and elevate board effectiveness. For Graddick-Weir, human capital isn’t a functional silo; it’s a strategic lever.

We recently sat down for an interview with Graddick-Weir to gain insights into her experience as an HR strategist making a sizeable impact on public boards.

As a board member, Graddick-Weir offers a lot more than just a deep understanding of the HR function. At Yum! Brands, she has helped guide CEO succession processes with rigor and discipline. She has also led governance efforts to help ensure that her boards have the right skills and experiences and that they work as a high-performing team, particularly during transformations and strategic inflection points.

Great CHROs bring science and discipline to succession. That rigor is sometimes missing. You also must be able to balance the needs of multiple stakeholders.”
Mirian Graddick-Weir

At Booking Holdings, Graddick-Weir faced the challenge of retaining top talent and minimizing business disruption during the pandemic in her leadership role as Talent & Compensation Committee chair. The travel industry was hit particularly hard, and she had to help revamp the incentive structures to align with the broader business realities and stabilize investor confidence.

“Great CHROs bring science and discipline to succession,” she said. “That rigor is sometimes missing. You also must be able to balance the needs of multiple stakeholders.”

Graddick-Weir is a strong advocate for CHROs serving on boards while still operating in the C-suite.

“You bring an outside-in perspective,” she said. “It makes you a better executive. You can instantly capture reference points and benchmarks.”

Her career path reinforces this belief. In addition to serving as a CHRO in telecom and pharmaceuticals, her board work has included tenures in the insurance, online travel and consumer industries. She credits her success to continuous learning and curiosity.

At each board, Graddick-Weir quickly became a key figure, known for her ability to ask incisive questions, build trust and influence outcomes — all of which helped shape board culture and recruiting.

“You’re there to support the management team, and how you ask questions matters,” she said.

At Yum!, as part of her orientation, she spent time in the field at some of the company’s key brands, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, learning the full breadth of the business. Graddick-Weir also initially joined the board’s audit committee, even though it may not have been seen as a natural spot for a human capital expert. The CEO believed it was the best way to learn the industry.

Her advice to other CHROs is, “Don’t initially go on the obvious committees. Take a chance. Audit helped me understand the business and the critical risks associated with the company — including the human capital risks.”

Chris Connor, former CEO of Sherwin-Williams and a fellow member of the Yum! Brands board, describes Graddick-Weir as “a unique talent” whose warmth, empathy and credibility make her indispensable.

He credits her with elevating compensation conversations, guiding delicate CEO transitions and bringing clarity to complex moments.

“Mirian is so real,” Connor said. “She’s earned the right and the respect to share anything that comes to mind — in any arena. She’s the adult in the room. When she speaks, every head in the room nods in unison.”

Chuck Noski, lead independent director for Booking Holdings, played a pivotal role in bringing Graddick-Weir onto that board, having worked with her at AT&T.

Interestingly, however, he had to lobby harder than usual. “There were questions,” Noski said. “Some saw her as solely a functional expert. But I argued there’s nothing narrow about people.”

You don’t necessarily ask your CFO to help you pick your marketing lead, but you ask your CHRO about almost anything. They touch every part of the business.”
Chuck Noski Lead Independent Director, Booking Holdings

A year after her appointment, the board chair came back to Noski and acknowledged that he had made the right decision pushing for Graddick-Weir on the board. Not only did she provide a functional point of view, but she was also a very effective board member who asked broader questions.

Noski also offered a memorable reflection on the value of CHROs.

“You don’t necessarily ask your CFO to help you pick your marketing lead,” Noski said. “But you ask your CHRO about almost anything. They touch every part of the business.”

Connor echoed that sentiment.

“Boards wouldn’t think of running without a finance person,” he said. “Why would you run without someone focused on your most important asset, your people?”

Graddick-Weir’s success as a director aligns with her belief that CHROs must be prepared to lead in a way that goes further than simply overseeing their function.

“Given their role in the C-suite, their ability to understand the business horizontally, and having experience working with boards, CHROs are well-suited for board roles,” she said.

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