October 28, 2020

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Global Organizations, with Kristen Anderson

Episode 64:

Kristen Anderson is currently the Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for Barilla and has been a member of the D&I Board since its formation in 2013. Kristen reports to the CEO of Barilla and leads a 12-member D&I Board, comprised of internal members from eight key countries and two external advisors. Previously, Kristen was VP of R&D for the Asia, Africa and Australia region for Barilla, based in Singapore. She joined Barilla in 2010 as VP of Research, and she is now based at the Barilla Headquarters in Parma, Italy.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • How Kristen made the transition from working in research and development at Barilla to her role as Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer
  • Why a strong commitment and engagement from leadership at Barilla is instrumental to the work Kristen does, and how D&I work at the global scale differs
  • How the individual circumstances of countries around the world drive the need to focus on different initiatives at the local level
  • What significant achievements, milestones and progress Kristen and her team have made, including how they were able to achieve gender pay equality
  • Why Kristen and her team have found strong backing data, a clearly defined process and intentionality crucial for their effort to close the gender pay gap
  • How Barilla partnered with Microsoft to develop an app to help team members manage their time working physically in the office and use of common spaces
  • How Italy-based Barilla has seen an influx of refugees and has created a refugee program to help refugees enter, integrate and train for new careers
  • How Barilla has worked closely with Italian government agencies and local organizations to help place refugees in jobs with the company
  • What important lessons Kristen has learned in her work in the diversity, equity and inclusion space, and what advice she has to share with other practitioners

Additional resources: