Symposium Speakers

Mr. Reinemund launched his academic leadership career in 2008 following a notable 23-year tenure at PepsiCo, Inc., now a global company with 185,000 employees.  He served as PepsiCo's Chairman and Chief Executive from 2001 to 2006 and retired as Chairman of the Board in 2007.  His legacy to the company is a culture that honors health and wellness, values-based leadership and diversity and inclusion.

His D&I imperative and consequential business performance improvements at PepsiCo inspired Harvard Business Review to create a business case, entitled Meeting the Diversity Challenge at PepsiCo.  He is the co-chair of the Is D&I in Your DNA? Symposium.

Mr. Swenson is co-chair of the Is D&I in Your DNA? Symposium.

He joined Capital H Group as a partner in 2003 following consulting and management roles at Mercer and Deloitte.  He works closely with C-suite executives to help their companies achieve business objectives through talent, leadership, and organizational strategies.  As Group Level Executive, he plays a key role in the development of service offerings and intellectual property.  His has directed numerous large-scale human capital strategy projects for mega-corporations with locations worldwide.

Mr. Bailey is the leader of the Midwest organization for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) and is responsible for the entire Primary Care business in that region. He has more than 20 years of leadership experience in pharmaceutical sales and marketing, as well as manufacturing and operations. Most recently, Mr. Bailey served as Vice President of Marketing and Managing Partner for a private equity venture. Before that, he held positions within Johnson & Johnson with Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation and Janssen Pharmaceutica including key leadership roles in both sales and marketing.

Mr. Floersch oversees the human resources function for McDonald's Corporation and a workforce of 480,000 employees in 118 countries.  He oversees the company's talent management, leadership development, rewards, labor relations and employment branding programs.  He joined the company in 2003, following a senior executive human resource role at Kraft Foods International which employs 50,000 people across 66 countries.

Mr. Fraleigh has held CEO and COO positions of Sara Lee Corporation divisions since joining the company in 2005.  In addition to his current CEO role, he is an Executive Vice President of Sara Lee employs which 44,000 workers and generates sales in 200 countries.  His impressive career with mega consumer goods companies includes management positions with General Motors and PepsiCo.

Mr. Hantson joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) in 2007 and was named CEO in April 2008.  In his role he oversees operations in the U.S. and Canada and 12,000 associates.  NPC researches, develops and markets prescription drugs and is the U. S. affiliate of Switzerland-based Novartis AG with whom Mr. Hantson joined in 2001.  He has held increasingly responsible leadership roles in the Novartis family of companies, each of which are committed to Diversity & Inclusion.

Ms. Harris is responsible for developing and implementing diversity strategies across nearly 32,000 McDonald's restaurants worldwide.  Under her leadership, McDonald's has received recognition as a great place to work for Asians, Blacks, Latinas, and persons with disabilities. She generously shares her expertise with the many national and NFP organizations she serves and has been featured in numerous publications.

Mr. Hoesman is a diversity and inclusion solutions expert with more than 15 years of internal and external consulting experience.  His specialty is the design and implementation of strategies to build more inclusive workplaces.  He leads and contributes to client engagements that focus broadly on three primary arenas: diversity, leadership development, and culture change.  He is a strong project manager with large scale change experience and an engaging facilitator.  He is a member of Capital H Group's USA Senior Management Team.

Ms. Jean-Francois, responsible for identifying and developing emerging leadership talent, also is the interim Director for Diversity awareness and strategies.  She leads lead the company's diversity and inclusion strategy with a focus on attracting, developing and retaining a world-class diverse workforce, now representing 20,000 employees in 40 countries worldwide.  McGraw-Hill is an information and insight company that has grown from one to 280 offices with a 119-year history of transformation that spans the Industrial and Information Ages.

Ms. Parry co-founded the Centre for High Performance Development (CHPD) in 1996, the leadership consultancy that was acquired by Capital H Group in 2007.  She was elevated to Group Level Executive of Capital H in 2008.  In addition to her oversight of CHPD operations, Chris consults widely across industry sectors.  Her areas of expertise include talent management programs, executive coaching, strategy facilitation, women in leadership and diversity and she has counseled major corporations around the world.

Ms. Priestley is responsible for leveraging a workforce of 12,000 in the United States and helping build a high-performing inclusive culture that drives business performance and employee satisfaction.  She is deploying a three-pillar D & I strategy focused on talent, culture and marketplace initiatives.  Previously, she served as the Vice President of Human Resources at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

Mr. Schaillee functions as chief marketing officer and the senior R & D executive at Sara Lee, a consumer products company with 44,000 employees worldwide.  His role forges consumers and business insights with product innovation and positioning, requiring his staff to understand the passion points of Sara Lee customers.  He has held increasing responsible marketing and management positions, stateside and internationally, since joining Sara Lee in 1994.