PepsiCo Europe has appointed Dannii Portsmouth, who has worked for the food and drinks giant for four years, as its new chief HR officer.
In her role, Portsmouth is senior vice president for the HR function in Europe, overseeing the talent agenda and building strategic organisational and people capabilities for more than 40,000 employees across 55 countries.
Portsmouth, a fellow of the CIPD, brings deep business knowledge, global experience and HR expertise to this critical role, having previously been vice president of HR for the PepsiCo Beverages North America West division in Los Angeles, where she led all aspects of the talent agenda, including talent management, performance management, staffing and employee relations.
Under her leadership, PepsiCo has implemented key people initiatives boosting business performance, increasing employee engagement and reducing turnover among frontline staff.
Before moving to the US, Portsmouth led HR for PepsiCo UK and Ireland where she built comprehensive talent and development strategies.
Portsmouth said: “We’ve seen such a huge shift in corporate culture over the last few years, which presents both significant challenges and exciting opportunities. My team will be driving that change and helping to reimagine the workplace of the future.
“PepsiCo in Europe has an ambitious growth agenda putting people at the heart of our end-to-end business transformation on our journey towards becoming an even more vibrant and inclusive company. I can’t think of a more exciting time to be leading our people operation as we make these strides forward.”
Prior to joining PepsiCo in 2019, Portsmouth spent more than 10 years at the pharmaceuticals company GSK in various roles including VP HR for global R&D, HR director for the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and a commercial role in the CEO’s office.
Portsmouth began her HR career at the software company Compuware, before moving to components distributor Future Electronics and the law firm Edwin Coe. She has a masters in Human Resource Management from Oxford Brookes University.
Her appointment at PepsiCo comes two years after the company launched “pep+”, the company’s end-to-end transformation strategy which aims to contribute to a better workplace and world and to help address inequalities for underrepresented people, businesses and communities.
Dannii Portsmouth reports to PepsiCo’s European chief executive Silviu Popovici. As well as soft drinks, PepsiCo’s brands include Walkers and Lay’s crisps, Quaker Oats and SodaStream.
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