Kate Aiken

Chief People Officer, Arcellx

Kate Aiken is a seasoned HR executive who’s helped shape cultures across startups, Fortune 50s, and everything in between. She holds a BA in Government from Dartmouth College and an MBA in Strategy from NYU, a pairing that reflects her lifelong curiosity about how systems, power, and people intersect. Today, as Chief People Officer at Arcellx, a leading biotech company, Kate blends strategic foresight with deep listening—focusing on how trust, transparency, and communication build resilient teams in an increasingly politicized world.

Before joining Arcellx, Kate spent a decade at McKesson, leading large-scale change across complex healthcare divisions. Earlier, she held senior HR roles at Gap Inc. and Oxygen Media, giving her a front-row seat to the cultural shifts shaping work over the past 20 years.

Politics at Work — An Interview in the Round

At Responsive Conference 2025, Kate Aiken joins the stage for an open, unscripted dialogue about leadership under pressure. As politics increasingly shape what happens inside the workplace, people leaders are asked to do more than manage teams—they’re expected to model values, hold space for complex emotions, and make decisions in moments that feel impossible to get “right.”

How should people leaders navigate the intersection of politics and work—without losing trust, momentum, or culture? In this roundtable-style session, a group of Chief People Officers will take turns interviewing one another, each sharing a real-world example from their career where external politics or social issues impacted the workplace.

From navigating team dynamics during polarizing events to shaping values-driven policies in moments of uncertainty, each 15-minute conversation will offer practical insight into how thoughtful leaders respond when pressure rises. This session is about nuance, reflection, and what it means to lead with care in a complex world.