Umran Beba
Umran Beba is the SVP, Chief Diversity and Engagement Officer for PepsiCo, a global food and beverage company with net revenues of $63 billion and a product portfolio that includes 23 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales. PepsiCo’s main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world.
Ms. Beba assumed her current role in November 2018. She will lead PepsiCo’s global diversity agenda, working with sector leadership teams to execute a sustainable roadmap for PepsiCo’s Performance with Purpose People goals.
Ms. Beba has held a wide range of roles since joining PepsiCo in 1994. Her previous roles were Global Diversity, Engagement and Talent Officer; SVP, Global Human Capital Management, Services and Operations. Prior to that, she served as SVP and Chief HR Officer for PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and North Africa, based in Dubai.
Earlier in her career, she served as business unit general manager of PepsiCo’s East Mediterranean business unit, comprising Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq, and subsequently as president of two different regions – South East Europe and Asia Pacific. She started her PepsiCo career at Frito-Lay in Turkey, where she held positions including Marketing Director, HR Director and ultimately General Manager.
Ms. Beba is a great supporter of all of PepsiCo’s Performance with Purpose goals, and has led the development or expansion of numerous sustainability programs designed to achieve them. These include Water Hope, a collaborative social enterprise that aims to bring clean drinking water to over one million Filipinos; Liter of Light, bringing clean energy to poor communities across Asia, Africa and South America; and a partnership with UNESCO to build a Business Skills Development Center in Myanmar.
Ms. Beba has received numerous recognitions for her dedication to diversity and inclusion, including the 2013 “Global Inspiring Women Worldwide Award” from the Women International Network, and PepsiCo’s Steve Reinemund Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Legacy Award in 2012. Through her work in leadership, diversity and inclusion, she has been featured in several books on the topic, including Good Leaders Learn by Gerard Seijts; Break the Ceiling, Touch the Sky by Anthony A. Rose; and Leadership Revelations III: How We Achieve the Gender Tipping Point by Avril Henry.
Ms. Beba is a board member of the International Youth Foundation and Neighbors Link. She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Future Council on New Social Contract and Columbia University School of Professional Studies Board of Overseers. She is the Co-Chair of the Asia Society’s Global Diversity and Talent Council.
A native of Turkey, Ms. Beba earned her MBA and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Bogaziçi University in Istanbul. She is married to Prof. Ali Beba and they have two sons in high school. They lived in Turkey, Hong Kong and Dubai before moving to U.S.
Ms. Beba is currently working in PepsiCo headquarters in Purchase, New York.