As the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Ed Adams is responsible for leading all aspects of human resources for the company’s more than 65,000 employees worldwide. Adams also ensures that the culture of North America’s largest rental car company is in line with the company’s mission, which places employees and customers first, and profits and growth second.

Adams began his career in the field of human resources in 1978, and since that time has brought about many positive changes to major corporations, particularly in the areas of employee selection, research, development and diversity. He worked at AT&T, where he developed selection procedures for hiring managers and quickly became responsible for all management research on hires into sales, marketing, programming and engineering management positions. In 1987, he moved to PepsiCo, where he began in beverages at the Pepsi Cola Company, and later was promoted to the Director level at Frito Lay, the company’s snack food division. At Frito Lay he served as the Director of Staffing and Diversity, and Director of Dallas Operations. During these years, Adams made significant strides within the company, increasing diversity within upper-level management from 2 percent to 20 percent; reducing the turnover of minority employees by 50 percent and negotiating a successful labor contract.