Director, Sustainability

Posted:
10/3/2024, 5:00:00 PM

Location(s):
Atlanta, Georgia, United States ⋅ Georgia, United States ⋅ Quebec, Canada

Experience Level(s):
Expert or higher ⋅ Senior

Field(s):
Business & Strategy

Company:  

US6469 Sysco Payroll, Division of Sysco Resources Services, LLC

Sales Territory:  

None

Zip Code:

77077

Travel Percentage:  

Up to 25%

COMPENSATION INFORMATION:

The pay range provided is not indicative of Sysco’s actual pay range but is merely algorithmic and provided for generalized comparison.  Factors that may be used to determine rate of pay include specific skills, work location, work experience and other individualized factors

Sysco, the largest foodservice distributor globally, has ambitions to drive value creation through being at center of the sustainable food systems transformation, and has set ambitious goals across people, product and planet pillars. This is not just because it’s the right thing to do, aligned with our purpose and values – it also offers significant value creation through new revenues and cost reductions.

This Director will be a critical member of the global Sustainability Function, directly supporting our North America business – as well as enabling our global businesses and functions. They will report to the global VP Sustainability, and will be responsible for a broad set responsibilities as part of our global sustainability strategy.

This director and their team will have three main responsibilities:

Delivery of key elements of our strategy:

People & Communities: Overall ownership of our Global Good Goal (giving $500M by end of 2025), and delivery of the communities, gifting and volunteering elements. This includes our Nourishing Neighbors program, the Sysco Foundation,  defining and owning relationships with NGO’s and other non-profit organizations that we support, the strategy and delivery of giving and volunteering in our communities. Additionally partner with Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) our human rights strategy and partnerships

ESG Regulatory & Reporting: Responsible for the strategy and delivery of our Annual Sustainability report and global ESG reporting and regulatory requirements which include inputs to financial reporting, but also all external ESG reporting frameworks (SASB, GRI, CDP, TCFD, etc), and other regulations (plastics, human rights, EU taxonomy). Includes ownership of our digital tools and our materiality assessments. This will involve deep partnership with the Financial Reporting, Regulatory Compliance and Legal business partners.

Embedding Sustainability: Partner with the VP Sustainability and other Directors to develop and execute a long-term strategy to embed sustainability throughout the business. Including developing a toolkit and roadmap to enable all parts of the sustainability team to establish business partnerships, track and report on KPI’s in the business functions, setting up governance to oversee cross-functional planning and achievement of results, regular reporting of results across sustainability and relevant business metrics to the business.

Future strategy and special Projects: Lead rotating special projects on an on-going basis as aligned with the VP Sustainability. Examples include development of our future sustainability strategy, leading efforts to remove virgin plastics and packaging with our supply base, leading the creation of a Climate Transition Plan, creating and align new climate/emissions targets with the organization.

Market & function coordination: Manage & coordinate the sustainability leaders in our global businesses (e.g., Canada, Europe), driving the implementation of the strategies set by the Global Sustainability Center of Excellence, customizing where necessary.

People & Communities: Delivery of Human Rights, Nourishing Neighbors, Sysco Foundation, relationships with key partners related to our global People strategy including NGO’s and other non-profit organizations that we support.

Reporting & regulations: Responsible for delivering our global ESG reporting and regulatory strategy including external ESG reporting frameworks (SASB, GRI, CDP, TCFD, etc), regulatory requirements (plastics, human rights, etc) through partnering with Financial Reporting, Legal, and the relevant business functions to collect necessary data. Includes leveraging our digital tools.

Drive global implementation of global CoE strategies: Manage leaders of market/BU sustainability teams (e.g., Canada, EU) to implement global strategies from the Center of Excellence across People, Product and Planet

Special projects: For a limited number of projects that do not fit within CoE scope and require deep organizational expertise, coordinate across large multi-functional teams to create strategies, roadmaps, tools and policies that enable impact and progress.

Embedding Sustainability: Embed sustainability throughout the business. Develop toolkits and roadmap to enable, set-up governance to oversee cross-functional planning and achievement of results, regular reporting of results across sustainability and relevant business metrics to the business.

Team & People Leadership: Develops team of high-performing professionals, focusing their efforts on projects that are critical to the company’s success. Obtains and prioritizes resources necessary for team members to achieve performance goals and provides guidance and feedback to facilitate their personal and professional growth and development. 

Education Required:

Bachelors Degree in Science, Environmental Studies, Agriculture or related discipline

Education Preferred: Master’s Degree or equivalent experience

Experience Required:

  • 5 years of sustainability experience in a business setting. In particular, ESG regulations, people & communities topics, embedding sustainability into the business
  • 3 years managing multiple large projects simultaneously
  • 2 years leadership experience, managing professionals (Manager level and above) and subject matter experts

Experience Preferred:

  • Experience in Fortune 500 corporate environment
  • Food sustainability experience including CPG, grocery retail, foodservice or related industries
  • Experience with digital sustainability platforms carbon accounting and reporting
  • Experience in a multi-channel, matrixed environment

Skills and Abilities:

This role will require a diverse set of skills, capabilities and experiences:

  • Collaboration and partnerships: Ability to foster strong working relationships that achieve results across a diverse range of partnership, and influence change without control across the business (including senior stakeholders) and externally with partners
  • Sustainability expertise: Broad range of sustainability topics covering Environment and Social. Specifically, deep knowledge of ESG reporting frameworks and relevant sustainability regulations, and how they apply to our global markets, sustainability
  • Team leadership: Experience in leading, growing, developing people. Ability to inspire, motivate and delegate to a diverse team, set clear goals, objectives and plans – and hold the team accountable. Drive a positive, results driven culture and build resilience and flexibility in a function with a high degree of change and navigate uncertainty.
  • Strategic thinking & vision: Ability to develop and implement a comprehensive sustainability strategy that aligns with the company's long-term business goals. Capable of identifying and implementing innovative sustainability solutions that create competitive advantages.
  • Business acumen: Financial literacy and ability to assess cost/benefit of sustainability initiatives. Ability to work with partners across the business including Finance, Reporting, Legal, Supply Chain, Merchandising to engage and along on the business value of sustainability initiatives
  • Change & project management: Strong leadership skills and courage to inspire and drive organizational change. Proficiency in planning complex transformational projects, managing cross-functional teams ensuring initiatives are implemented on time and on budget.
  • Data-driven decision making: Proficient in conducting analytics, using analytical tools, and using analytical output to guide business decisions.
  • Communication: Proficient in verbal and written communication including executive presentations. Ability to effectively communicate the importance of sustainability to a broad range of stakeholders.
  • Delivering results: Track-record of delivering business and sustainability results 

Physical Demands:

Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.

Travel: 25%

Work Environment: Standard Corporate office environment

BENEFITS INFORMATION:

For information on Sysco’s Benefits, please visit https://SyscoBenefits.com

OVERVIEW:

Sysco is the global leader in foodservice distribution. With over 71,000 colleagues and a fleet of over 13,000 vehicles, Sysco operates approximately 333 distribution facilities worldwide and serves more than 700,000 customer locations.

We offer our colleagues the opportunity to grow personally and professionally, to contribute to the success of a dynamic organization, and to serve others in a manner that exceeds their expectations. We’re looking for talented, hard-working individuals to join our team. Come grow with us and let us show you why Sysco is at the heart of food and service.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION STATEMENT:

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer, and consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status or any other protected factor under federal, state or local law.

This opportunity is available through Sysco Corporation, its subsidiaries and affiliates.

Sysco

Website: https://sysco.com/

Headquarter Location: Houston, Texas, United States

Employee Count: 10001+

Year Founded: 1969

IPO Status: Public

Industries: Electrical Distribution ⋅ Food and Beverage ⋅ Food Delivery ⋅ Health Care ⋅ Hospitality ⋅ Logistics ⋅ Marketing ⋅ Meat and Poultry ⋅ Restaurants ⋅ Sales