Leveraging Our Collective Power for Good

Albert Baladi, President & Chief Executive Officer, Beam Suntory

 IWD 2023

As a leading global premium spirits company with brands like Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam and Yamazaki, our brands are sold in more than 100 countries. They are crafted, marketed and sold by our employees around the world. 

Our products are about bringing people together. At Beam Suntory, we talk a lot about Better Together and leveraging our East-Meets-West advantage. These two cultural tenets reflect our belief that fostering a diverse workforce, and an equitable and inclusive culture lead to better outcomes for our employees, customers and the communities where we live and work.

To me, this year’s theme of Embracing Equity embodies the shared responsibility all of us have in actively identifying and removing barriers to ensure equal opportunities for everyone and support the advancement of marginalized communities.

As CEO, it is my responsibility to set the tone and model behavior for the rest of the organization, ensuring DEI is understood as a business priority and societal imperative. This includes being a better ally for women by calling out biases and discrimination, challenging the status quo and holding myself and leaders accountable.

While it is my job to provoke the conversation around DEI, everyone in our company needs to play a role in living our values and delivering our ambitions, including achieving our goal of 50% women in leadership roles by 2030. I’m proud of the progress we’re making, yet there remains work to do to advance representation, and ensure our culture and opportunities support and empower everyone.

The bottom line is that we must hold one another accountable to advance representation and equity, and promote work environments where our people feel heard, valued and supported.

For real change and impact to be achieved, it will take all of us, collectively and actively to #EmbraceEquity.