Switzerland Chapter Committee Members

I am Caroline Basyn, SVP for Strategy and Transformation at PepsiCo Europe. My passion for Women’s development started in 1997, 12 years after I joined Procter & Gamble, when a more senior American leader in the company made me realize I had a mission to help drive the career of all women in IT in Europe. This was such a rewarding experience, followed by driving the Women’s development program for Bacardi and more recently by taking the leadership of making a difference for Swiss based women. In those experiences I have seen the differences and the unconscious bias that have disabled women to advance. I have also realized that every step we take makes a difference and that we all can contribute. I am inspired by the LEAD founders, as they scale all what we do, and make a bigger impact.

I’ve been part of LEAD Network for almost 4 years now, and had more than 25 years of my professional career at PepsiCo. I’m a big believer in truly diverse teams delivering stronger results, and determined we can do more to champion and support the future of female talent in FMCG and retail industries. Being part of such passionate teams of inspiring leaders and role models, I’m confident we will get a lot done.

I’m Franca Mercurio, RD&E Director EU at SC Johnson & I am part of the LEAD Network Swiss Chapter. I love LEAD Network mission; being a mother of 3 young girls, I like to think that an organization like LEAD will pave their future working lives by making sure D&I will be a natural value in any organizations. I am happy I can play a role in it.

I joined LEAD Network in 2014. I have mission to have positive impact on gender equality. I grew up in Turkey within a family supporting full equality, despite unconscious biases in the culture and have been living in Switzerland, where faced with challenges as a working mum. I truly believe in the diversity and equality driving better results for teams, corporates and communities. We all need to support and empower women to be at their best with confidence, give them the right possibilities and continue to show role models. I have two daughters and I hope all my efforts will enable them to reach their dreams with confidence and equal rights.

During 20 years in the global corporations I learned about the value that diversity and women development brings in the workplace. Today, as founder and CEO of Innopearl I continue to passionately promote hope and inspiration for all women to dream big, cherish their original thinking and serve as a force multiplier for societal advancement and freedom.

I have seen throughout my career the power of truly diverse organizations in accelerating growth. I have also benefited from working for leaders who role modeled diversity and it has helped me a lot in advancing my own career. Now I want to give back and support women to grow!

Apart from being passionate about making an impact on the business by using finance & data to take better decisions, I am very involved in women’s empowerment and very active within Nestlé to create a favourable work environment built on gender diversity & inclusion, enabling women to thrive and develop their full potential. My personal focus regarding diversity and inclusion is to fight bias and change mindsets to influence the company and the society towards equal opportunities for women.