Michelle Braden

Michelle Braden, CLO’s 2023 Chief Learning Officer of the Year, is a multi-award-winning chief learning officer focused on driving true business impact through innovative talent development initiatives. With over 25 years of experience in sales, IT, business leadership and HR roles at large enterprises such as SAP, TELUS and Xerox, Michelle joined WEX, a global leader in financial technology solutions, in 2019. Since joining, she has successfully transformed learning and changed her organization’s mindset from using learning as a tool to “fix” problem employees to an advantage in recruiting, developing and maintaining high-potential employees. 

Michelle is a member of CTDO Next, the Association for Talent Development’s exclusive group of top talent development executives shaping the future of the profession, and authored a chapter, “Doing More with Less,” in “Forward-focused Learning,” edited by Tamar Elkeles and published by ATD Press in 2020. She also serves on ATD’s Senior Leader and Executive Board and the Reworked Digital Workplace Experience Board. She is continually asked to speak at industry events and write for industry publications. In addition to the 2023 Chief Learning Officer of the Year, other recent awards include CLO’s 2023 LearningElite (Gold) and Editor’s Choice Learning Impact Award; CLO’s 2022 Learning in Practice Trailblazer (Gold) and Strategy Award (Gold); 2022 & 2023 Top 50 OnCon Icon awards; 2023 Most Innovative Talent Development Leader by Slate Advisers; and 2023’s Stevie Awards HR Executive of the Year (Silver). 

Michelle has an MBA with a Leadership and Change specialty and a BA in Management and Business Communication with a minor in information technology.