With us on the podcast today is Marlene Creighton, Chief Sales Officer at Hershey. We’re talking about Hershey’s Future CEO program, which brings together 10 young women and girls from around the globe for a day of learning and mentorship. We talk about why this program is so important to Hershey and how it’s helping to make an impact on the next generation. We discuss the importance of mentorship and ‘reverse mentorship’ not only for the girls involved in the program, but also for the company as well.
Hershey, which was named Food Processing’s 2022 Processor of the Year, is a household name for many American consumers, and Marlene walks us through how programs like Future CEO help the company better understand – and listen – to its consumers. We talk about Gen Z’s importance to the brand before shifting to a discussion about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Hershey.
We cap things off talking about why diversity and representation are so fundamentally important not only to the company’s hiring and recruitment but also with its suppliers as well.Follow along in this episode through the topics timestamped below
Introduction to the Future CEO program 2:22
How the Future CEO program got started 3:14
The importance of programs like Future CEO 5:34
How Hershey is providing hands-on training and mentorship 7:02
How the program has been received so far 8:06
Hershey’s expectations of the Future CEO program 9:25
Hershey’s value in diversity, equity, and inclusion 11:03
How the Future CEO program plays into Hershey’s DEI Values 13:26
