Martha Watt

Managing Director, Chicago Human Resources

Martha Watt is our managing director of the Human Resources team in Chicago and Milwaukee. Her role aligns her passions of inspiring teams, growing people-services businesses, and providing value to the HR community. She loves to help organizations reach their goals and individuals align with their life purpose to live joyfully every day.

Martha’s experience in people/HR-services businesses spans over thirty years in multiple areas: recruiting & executive search, talent & leadership development, learning & education, coaching, and organizational change management.

Prior to joining Salo, Martha was in consulting, business development, marketing, and customer experience leadership roles for a variety of organizations, including Executive Coaching Connections, Gagen MacDonald, The CARA Group, Spherion, and AT Kearney.

Martha is a member of The Executive Club of Chicago and the Association of Talent Development. She is an advisory board member for the Chicago Corporate Coalition, a not-for-profit organization aligning Chicago-area HR leaders on supporting employees’ emotional health to help with talent retention, wellness, and the eradication of systemic racism.

She holds a B.S.E. in industrial engineering from The University of Michigan and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She also received certifications in Coaching Essentials from CoachU, Prosci’s Enterprise Change Management, and Values-based Leadership from Northwestern.

Martha lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago and has two grown children. She loves to boat, bike, and be outdoors with friends, family, and her golden retriever, Sammy.