Inside Move America Initiative: Culture in Action with Alicia Hart and Jeanine Charlton
After our conversation with Merchants Fleet CEO Matt Dyer, we wanted to go deeper into the company’s Move America initiative — a multi-year vision grounded not only in business strategy, but also in the culture, values, and leadership behaviors required to bring that strategy to life.
In this episode of The Bliss Business Podcast, we welcome two of the initiative’s internal sponsors: Alicia Hart, Chief People Officer, and Jeanine Charlton, Chief Technology Officer. Together, they explore why culture is not simply the responsibility of HR. It requires leaders across every function to create alignment, model shared values, and help employees understand how their work contributes to the larger vision.
In Move America, we explore:
• Why culture must be owned by leaders across the organization
• How strategy becomes meaningful through daily leadership behavior
• The role managers play in creating alignment and connection
• Why cross-functional commitment is essential during growth
• How values move from presentation slides into everyday decisions
• What it takes to turn a company vision into a shared movement
🎙️ Hosted by Stephen Sakach and Tullio Siragusa
🎧 Produced by Martha Huerta
Culture is not a department. It is the collective result of how leaders communicate, make decisions, and show up for people every day.
Chief People Officer
Alicia Hart is Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Merchants Fleet and a member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team, where she leads the enterprise people strategy, including talent, culture, leadership development, and employee experience.
Alicia has been with Merchants Fleet for more than two decades, joining the company in 2003 and growing her career across the HR function. Her journey from HR Administrator to Chief People Officer reflects both her deep commitment to the organization and the career growth opportunities available to employees at Merchants.
She partners closely with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team to ensure the company’s people, culture, and organizational design support its long-term strategy and continued growth. Alicia has played a key role in guiding the organization through periods of transformation, including leadership transitions, workforce evolution, and the ongoing focus on building a high-performing, engaged workforce.
Known for her practical and steady leadership style, Alicia is focused on creating an environment where employees can do their best work, grow their careers, and feel connected to the company’s purpose. Under her leadership, Merchants has strengthened employee engagement and culture and has been recognized as a Great Place to Work for over a decade, reinforcing its reputation as an employer of choice.
Alicia holds an MBA and maintains SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications. She lives in New Hampshire with her family and remains actively engaged in the broader HR community.…
CTO
Jeanine L. Charlton serves as Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer at Merchants Fleet.
Her work has recently been recognized with her recent award for the 2021 CIO100, Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology by the National Diversity Council, and ChicagoCIO of the Year Award. Jeanine also served as a member of the ChicagoCIO Advisory Board.
She joined the company in June 2018 after serving as a Merchants Fleet board member. Jeanine provides strategic leadership to all Merchants Fleet technology initiatives, to include the innovative and proprietary fleet management software –TotalView. She is focused on positioning the company for technological advancement and continued growth while creating a culture that celebrates innovation and collaboration.
Jeanine has an extensive Fortune 100 technology leadership background in the automotive, transportation, supply chain & manufacturing industries. She has been on the forefront of IT and business integration by leading the consolidation of manufacturing and technology processes and strategies to create a superior client experience at technology powerhouses DXC Technology, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Over the past 30 years, she has successfully enabled multiple enterprise and government transformations, leveraging technology, services, and people, resulting in improved financial, client, and employee metrics.
