Karen Ancira is Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer for Mattel. She joined Mattel in 2024. In her role, Ms. Ancira is responsible for driving cultural transformation at Mattel, working with the leadership team to champion Mattel's mission and values and to ensure optimal collaboration across the global organization. As Chief People Officer, Ms. Ancira oversees all global People & Culture functions, including organization design and development, inclusion, talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, employee culture and engagement, leadership development, talent management, workforce planning and people analytics.

Ms. Ancira is a purpose-driven leader with strong expertise in building progressive workplace cultures, cultivating purpose-driven, values-based Human Resources organizations and programs for major consumer brands globally. Prior to joining Mattel, Ms. Ancira spent over a decade with Yum! Brands, most recently serving as Chief People and Culture Officer for their US BU and previously CPO for Australia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She also held senior Human Resources roles for the brand in UK and Ireland. During her tenure, Ms. Ancira developed a global leadership and character-building program that was implemented across the entire Yum! Brands portfolio. She also led the end-to-end HR agenda for the employee base, led the US organization through a leadership transformation, achieved 100% pay parity for the US, and was instrumental in crafting and launching the business's transformation strategy.

Previously, Ms. Ancira served in HR leadership positions at PepsiCo, creating and overseeing major HR programs across the Latin America region. During this time, Ms. Ancira was a vital strategic partner focused on culture, learning and leadership development, as well as playing a key role in the merger of two brands that created PepsiCo Mexico Foods where she led their organization design initiative. 

Ms. Ancira holds a BA in Economics from the University of Monterrey in Mexico and received an MBA from EAE Business School in Madrid, Spain. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Latino Leadership Institute.