The Kraft Heinz Company announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Diane Gherson as a director.
“The Board is delighted to appoint Diane Gherson, former Chief Human Resources Officer at IBM, to join the Kraft Heinz Board,” said Miguel Patricio, Chief Executive Officer, and Chair of the Board of Directors of The Kraft Heinz Company. “With her 18 years in senior leadership positions at IBM, she brings expertise in redesigning management systems to help shape a culture of continuous learning, innovation and agility, which is experience that is especially valuable to the Board.”
During her tenure as CHRO, IBM was engaged in a transformation and portfolio shift. Gherson oversaw the digital transformation of the company’s HR function, incorporating AI and automation across the company’s offerings, resulting in significant company savings. She championed the company’s global adoption of design thinking and agile methods at scale, as an example, driving a company-wide overhaul of performance management. Diane has also been an external advocate for social issues affecting employees.
As IBM’s CHRO, Gherson was responsible for the people and culture of IBM’s more than 340,000-person workforce covering approximately 175 countries. In 2020, Gherson’s last year at the company, IBM was ranked #3 on Forbes 2020 World’s Best Employer list and #3 on the Wall Street Journal Management/Drucker Institute 2020 Best Managed Companies.
Gherson is currently a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and serves on the board of the National Academy of Human Resources. She also previously served on the board of Ping Identity Holding Corp., a software company, until it was acquired in October 2022.
“It is an honor to join the Kraft Heinz Board,” said Gherson. “Having been through a large-scale transformation in my time at IBM, I look forward to bringing key learnings to this position and supporting Kraft Heinz as it continues its strong growth.”
