UK 
United States
Nicole Brown,
Chief Human Resources Officer, Mediaocean
Nicole has 20 years of experience building and leading core functions including People Operations, L&D, and DE&I, including 18 years with Mediaocean.
Lucy Kuri,
VP of People and Organisation for Global Emerging Markets, Mars Wrigley
Lucy Kuri shares how DE&I practices and embracing cultural differences has made Mars Wrigley a fantastic place to work, including increasing female representation in the leadership team for global emerging markets from 14% to 46% in 2023…
Although Lucy Kuri is based in the UK, like many HR leaders, her organisation spans multiple countries and cultures. Throughout her 30+ year career at companies including Mars and Pepsi, she has advocated for women and people from minority backgrounds to succeed in these organisations, through mentorship, management, training, and more.
Whether you’re looking after people strategy, like Kuri, for multiple countries across the world, or focused on the UK, her insights on cohesive DE&I practices demonstrate how embracing cultural differences can improve retention, reduce absenteeism, and drive business growth.
What has your 30+ year career taught you about the importance of making DE&I a global issue?
When you lead people management for a fast-growing business of over 130 markets including Brazil, India, Egypt, and Australia, which together is home to 65% of the world’s population, you see first-hand the power of diversity and inclusion. Our business can’t function or grow unless we embrace and encourage the diverse talent within our Global Emerging Markets (GEM) team. This can never be a tick-box exercise. You have to continually work on how you can improve and inspire the kind of truly diverse workforce within GEM.
How can HR leaders balance cohesive national or international DE&I policy and strategy with local or cultural adaption?
It’s critical to be truly people-first and use this as your starting point. This means we’re focused on what is best for our people regardless of nationality, culture, or geography. We exemplify being people first at Mars through our principle of everyone being an Associate.
There is a meaningful relationship between each Associate and the company built on mutual trust, responsibility, and respect. We’re very proud of the fact that the average tenure of our Associates is nine years, and it isn’t uncommon to have multiple generations of the same family working together.
Our business can’t function or grow unless we embrace and encourage the diverse talent within our Global Emerging Markets (GEM) team.
Lucy Kuri | VP of People and Organisation for Global Emerging Markets, Mars Wrigley
Me and my fellow HR leaders work hard to ensure our ‘Associate experience’ respects and embraces the differences across GEM and ensures equal access to opportunities.
