
Dannii Portsmouth,
CHRO, PepsiCo Europe
A new role in a long-established brand gives Dannii Portsmouth new challenges – she shares her HR story as well as the theory behind the concept of ‘bleeding blue’ – PepsiCo brand loyalty
Interview by Jenny Holliday
Pepsi has just celebrated 125 years – and is a worldwide brand with a huge workforce, many of whom are customer-facing. Juggling the different cultures and people as well as looking to the future is the challenge for the new CHRO PepsiCo Europe, Dannii Portsmouth.
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It's honestly my privilege to be in this role! The role itself is taking care of the people agenda across our European geographies. We have more than 40,000 associates in Europe across more than fifty countries, and fifty percent of those are associates in frontline roles, so it's really a fantastic tapestry of different cultures, different people and different needs that we're trying to bring together under one employee experience.
One part of my role is leading the HR function for Europe, which of course is dispersed across that geography; and it’s also being a senior leader, supporting our CEO and his direct reports on the culture and tone we want to set as leaders. We are always looking to make sure our leadership shadow is right. I also work on the people agenda and what we want it to be for PepsiCo.
While we know we’re a big organisation, we were tiny when we started, and we’re still pushing and challenging