Michael Feiner

Michael Feiner, Executive Consultant with The Advisory Alliance, brings over 30 years of experience as a leadership and talent management expert. The former Chief People Officer of Pepsi-Cola Company, he is internationally recognized for his intellectual integrity, broad-gauge leadership skills and expertise on people and organizational issues. Mike advises a wide variety of organizations, including private equity firms, Fortune 500 companies and fast growing start-ups. He guides boards & c-suite executives on business-driven human capital strategy and leadership effectiveness. Mike also coaches a select number of high performance leaders each year, including CEOs and those who are enroute to the c-suite.

From 2010 through 2015 Mike was at Irving Place Capital as Senior Managing Director-Human Capital. While leading the firm’s efforts to maximize the performance of its portfolio companies across a wide variety of sectors from retail to healthcare, Mike became known as “The CEO whisperer” for his ability to influence operating executives to build, galvanize and energize their teams.

Prior to Irving Place Capital, Mike taught at Columbia Graduate School of Business for ten years as Professor of Management and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Ethics Fellow. Mike’s High Performance Leadership class was consistently ranked by students as one of the schools most impactful and sought after courses. He was also the two-time winner of the Singhvi Prize, voted by students as “Best Teacher” for his dedication to teaching and ability to communicate knowledge and encourage students.

From 1975 to 1995, he worked for Pepsi-Cola Company. In 1989 he was named Senior Vice President & Chief People Officer for Pepsi’s beverage operations worldwide. Beyond building and leading an organization of 400 human resource professionals that gained a reputation as one of the most distinctive, innovative and prestigious in the world, he devoted much of his time to growing and developing high-potential leaders. At a time when Pepsi’s operations comprised 70,000 employees in 150 countries, he advised, coached and counseled executives on how to enhance their leadership effectiveness. He is credited with upgrading Pepsi’s performance standards and organizational excellence and is acknowledged as one of the key architects of Pepsi’s distinctive culture, known for its openness, results orientation and assertive, “David vs. Goliath” style.

In 1993, he went on to become Chief People Officer for PepsiCo Europe. Based in London, he was responsible for building the management and organizational capability of all of PepsiCo’s businesses across continental Europe.

Michael holds a B.S. degree from Boston University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. He is the author of “The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws That Will Make People Want to Perform Better for You”, published by Warner Books.