Beehive Lane was founded on a simple observation: HR strategy and employment law are usually handled by different people, in different meetings, speaking different languages — and that gap is where avoidable risk gets created. Michael Owen has spent his career closing it.
Michael is a senior HR and legal executive who has led transformational change across an exceptional range of industries — publishing, higher education, healthcare, human services, financial services, nonprofit, and legal services. From a Fortune 50 corporation to world-renowned universities and complex healthcare systems, he has brought bold, equity-focused leadership to every engagement.
As Chief Human Resources Officer and, concurrently, General Counsel for a statewide healthcare nonprofit, Michael led enterprise-wide HRIS modernization, cut legal costs by 70% and employment claims by 95%, and built the compensation and leadership systems that became the foundation for the organization's transformation — all while overseeing HR for more than 3,000 employees across 21 counties on a $100M+ operating budget.
He began his career in the legal field as a public defender before moving into HR leadership at Gannett, where he received the company's top national HR honor — the President's Ring — twice. He has since held senior leadership roles at Princeton University, Montclair State University, and MetLife. Today, as Fractional Chief People Officer and General Counsel, he advises multiple organizations — including MIDTC, LLC, Xelerate, LLC, and Nurturing Studio — on workforce strategy, legal risk, and culture transformation.
Michael lives in Flemington, New Jersey, with his wife, Shianne, and their three children. A lifelong enthusiast of storytelling, basketball, and all things Disney, he brings the same curiosity and heart to his work that he brings to parenthood.
View LinkedIn Profile →Every hire, termination, policy, and restructuring carries legal weight. Treating HR and legal as separate conversations is how organizations end up exposed.
Not every organization needs a full-time CPO or GC. Beehive Lane delivers that level of judgment on a fractional basis, scaled to what the business actually needs.
Every engagement ends with something decision-makers can act on — a memo, a policy, a roadmap — not just advice that lives in a meeting.
