Kraft Heinz, the world’s fifth largest food and beverage company, has appointed Joanne Chin as Chief People Officer in Australia.
The company says Ms Chin joins its executive leadership team at a time of great expansion both “globally and locally”. It adds that it has grown in the past year, boosting its staff headcount and its range of products.
According to a company statement, Ms Chin will help “build a sustainable Australian business through a comprehensive people strategy”. Her new remit will include “building a thriving culture, developing strong leaders and managing current talent, as well as attracting new talent”.
Highly experienced
Ms Chin has nearly 15 years of people and performance management.
She began her HR career at Sydney-based law firm, Allens, after five years working as a lawyer at the company. Most recently, she was Head of People at Waymo (Google’s self-driving car company project) for more than two years in San Francisco. Before this, she held HR leadership roles at Google for more than four years in both London and San Francisco.
“I’m thrilled to join the team at Kraft Heinz Australia,” Ms Chin said. “My passion for business transformation, people, culture and innovative workplaces has led me to this exciting opportunity. I hope to impart the knowledge I have working in various sectors and geographies.
“While one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, the business here in Australia is very agile and operates with a large amount of local autonomy. Kraft Heinz is known for taking great pride in hand picking outstanding talent and bringing them into the business.”
Future leaders
Ms Chin says one of her core focus areas will be helping to develop a future generation of FMCG leaders at Kraft Heinz Australia.
“Regardless of tenure, everyone gets the opportunity to own and manage major products, enabling them to thrive and grow rapidly,” she said. “A key element of my role will be building on the robust personal development programs and opportunities currently in place.”
Kraft Heinz in Australia employs more than 900 people throughout the country. It has been recognised as one of the country’s leading employers, recently named in The AFR’s Top 100 Graduate Employers 2018 List.
