Chocolate manufacturer Hershey is among four companies from the food and drink industry commended by DiversityInc in its annual list of the world’s most diverse businesses.
The Pennsylvania-based company – one of just three of the 50 largest food and beverage firms to have a female chief executive – was praised for having strong representation for women in senior roles. Michele Buck, the company’s CEO, is one of just 24 female Fortune 500 bosses. The company has twice as many women in the top two levels of management as the average across the S&P 500.
Buck, PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi and Campbell’s Denise Morrison are the only three female chief executives among the food and beverage industry’s 50 largest companies, as revealed at the end of last year in FoodBev magazine‘s annual Top 100.
Hershey polled 33rd in the list but was beaten by seeds company Monsanto, which is in the process of securing antitrust approval for a $62.5 billion merger with German chemical giant Bayer, and appeared 27th in the list.
Female chief executives
The most diverse food and beverage company, according to DiversityInc, was 18th-placed Kellogg. The Battle Creek cereal manufacturer was praised for its level of female representation in top management positions, as well as a generous parental leave policy.
Flavours company McCormick was the final food and drink company on the list, in 37th place. Cosmetics firm Johnson & Johnson took the top spot.
McCormick CEO Lawrence Kurzius said: “We are extremely proud to be honoured on the DiversityInc 2018 Top 50 list of companies for the second consecutive year. This outstanding achievement underlines our people-first culture that respects and values every person, and promotes diversity and inclusion at all levels of the organisation. McCormick is committed to continuing to be a great place to work.”
And Melissa Harper, vice-president of global talent and chief diversity officer for Monsanto, added: “Inclusion and diversity are vital to effectively serve customers in all regions of the world. Diverse perspectives and experiences help us see farmers’ challenges in new and different ways, supporting our efforts to create innovative agricultural solutions and offer a great place to work for our employees.”
Companies in the DiversityInc Top 50 are scored against a number of factors, including representation of different races and ethnicities, genders and sexualities – as well as initiatives to hire and retain employees with disabilities, veterans, or people from minority backgrounds. The data is self-submitted, and companies with fewer than 1,000 employees are not considered.
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