Kraft Heinz Appoints Debby Soo to Board of Directors
The Kraft Heinz Company has shared that Debby Soo, CEO of OpenTable, Inc., has been appointed to its Board of Directors.
Motivated by its purpose, to ‘Make Life Delicious’, the Kraft Heinz Company’s 2023 net sales reached US$27bn. The company is dedicated to expanding its iconic kitchen staples and emerging food and beverage favourites on a worldwide scale.
The Kraft Heinz company sees Debby Soo’s expertise as incredibly valuable for the modernisation of the company.
Debby Soo: From travel agency roots to leading OpenTable
Debby grew up in San Francisco, the only child of immigrant parents who owned and operated a brick-and-mortar travel agency. As a youngster, she watched her parents work tirelessly, from a small desk at home when they were first starting out, to a bona fide company with offices in the Bay Area and Taipei.
After graduating from Stanford with a liberal arts degree, Debby started her career in investment banking and quickly realised that whilst banking provided her with an amazing foundation with which to evaluate companies, she wanted to be an operator at a company, not an advisor to one. She then joined Google's Strategic Partnerships Group and negotiated and sourced various types of content (think satellite imagery, StreetView, transit data, and restaurant reviews) for Google Maps.
She joined OpenTable in 2020.
“OpenTable is an operationally strong and efficient business. But like any business, we can be even better with tighter alignment across product, sales and marketing, faster go-to-market strategies and product roll-outs and more strategic deployment of our resources to protect our share in the U.S. and grow internationally,” she shared, upon her appointment as CEO of OpenTable. “I am so excited to help lead OpenTable through this unprecedented moment, to use and apply all the learnings I’ve collected to date, and to continue to learn and refine my craft, as well as get to know, on a much deeper level, our people, our restaurants and our diners.”
Debby’s favourite foods, she says are Pho, carbonara, beef noodle soup and spaetzle. She would describe her leadership style as one with self awareness and humility at the core.
“I try to live the principles of grit, ownership mentality, trust and transparency,” she says. “I’m certainly not perfect and I’m very aware and transparent about my weaknesses and foibles. I always tell my teams that I know that I have succeeded as a manager and leader if I’m not the smartest person in the room with all the answers.”
Kraft Heinz welcomes Debby Soo to Board of Directors
Soo said she was honoured to join the Kraft Heinz Board to help drive innovation and sustainable growth across the enterprise.
“My experience at OpenTable, working in close partnership with chefs and restaurateurs, gives me a unique perspective on technology in the food and beverage industry and the powerful role that food plays in bringing people together,” she said. “Kraft Heinz has built an incredible legacy through its iconic brands and I look forward to being a part of its future."
Miguel Patricio, Chair of the Board of Kraft Heinz, said the company was thrilled to welcome Debby to the Board.
“Debby brings extensive experience in technology development and global business strategy, having worked with some of the most impactful global technology organisations,” he said.
Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Chief Executive Officer and Board member at Kraft Heinz, said he was certain that Debby would be a tremendous asset to the Board in its oversight of the Company’s long-term growth strategy.
“We’ve re-engineered Kraft Heinz with Agile@Scale as the foundation of our business. Debby’s experience with emerging technologies and organisational transformation will be incredibly valuable as we continue to modernise the Company,” he added.
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