Kering Scales Up Diversity, Inclusion at Regional Levels
Recognizing that diversity and inclusion efforts must be sensitive to “each culture and local context,” Kering is appointing three regional diversity and inclusion managers.
“Their mission will be to continue to place D&I at the heart of Kering’s operations and to create impactful local programs to effect practical change,” the French luxury group said in a statement shared with WWD.
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Béatrice Lazat, Kering’s chief people officer, explained that the group has been scaling up the D&I function within the human resources team.
“In the last several years, we have increased the number of tangible actions to further improve inclusion,” she said. “While doing this, we realized that the regional level is essential to implement the D&I strategy once it has been decided, as it is key to be sensitive to each culture and social context.”
Jenny Wong, previously at John Swire & Sons, has been named D&I manager for the Asia Pacific region, and Maria Luisa Pulido, who joins from L’Oréal, is D&I manager for EMEA, the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. A D&I director for the Americas “will be appointed shortly,” Kering said.
The company also named Tania Castillo Pérez its new group head of inclusion and diversity in the wake of the exit of Kalpana Bagamane, who had been heading Kering’s D&I strategy for the past two years out of its Paris headquarters. Her title was chief diversity, inclusion and talent officer, and she had joined from executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates.
Kering said Bagamane is pursuing new professional opportunities. “I would like to thank Kalpana for her contribution over the last two years and wish her the very best in her future endeavors,” Lazat commented.
Castillo Pérez joined Kering in May 2021 as group talent, diversity and inclusion impact manager. Her résumé includes 10 years with Capgemini Group where she held various roles across change management, human resources, diversity and inclusion, social impact and sustainability.
Kering has been promoting diversity through its sustainability and people strategy, which includes a goal of gender equality and equal pay among men and women by 2025.
According to the company, more than 42,000 employees completed diversity training as part of its annual ethics training course, while 60 senior leaders attended diverse mentoring programs.
In addition, Kering created D&I committees in all brands and geographies with executive sponsors and all executive teams “were trained and empowered to implement concrete actions.”
“Kering is convinced that diversity of gender, culture, origin, sexual orientation, identity or disability situation, is a source of creativity and collective intelligence,” it said.
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