Marissa Farrar

Marissa is Chief People Officer at Turnitin, a leader in academic integrity and assessment solutions for schools, universities, and professional organizations.

In this role, she is focused on delivering people and workplace strategies that achieve a high-performance, inclusive culture. She has global oversight for the candidate and employee experience – from attraction to farewell. Her team includes people & places business partners and specialists in recruiting and onboarding, talent management, total rewards, employee relations, and HR technologies and analytics.  

Marissa has taken on career-defining roles that have both enriched and accelerated her development in various industries and environments, from start-up to Fortune 100 companies. She began her career as an HR generalist at a military high school start-up for at-risk youth,  and also managed research fellows at the Rutgers University Center for HR Strategy.  Prior to Turnitin, she led HR for the nearly 20,000 employee Design and Consulting Services Americas (DCSA) operating group of AECOM. She is also noted for her experience as an HR leader at Merck, Raytheon, Kimberly-Clark, and Mölnlycke Health Care where she oversaw the employee experience, drove attraction, retention, and development of top industry talent, and helped embed diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout organizational processes.

Marissa holds a B.A. in Labor & Employment Relations and Communications, a Masters of HR Mgmt (MHRM) from Rutgers University (Summa Cum Laude), a Raytheon Six Sigma Green Belt, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, and  AECOM-Prosci Change Management certifications. She is a graduate of Linkage’s prestigious Global Institute for Leadership Development (GILD), as well as executive and HR leadership development programs at Kimberly-Clark and Merck. She sits on the Professional Women’s Career Network Advisory Council of The Drake House which provides a forum for professional single moms to connect and accelerate their career progression.