Communicator Spotlight: Gemma Hart of Danone North America
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As senior vice president of corporate affairs at Danone North America, Gemma Hart is responsible for "being a translator and the connector," she told Axios.
Why it matters: Hart's team is focused on proving how its reputational work feeds into the business strategy and generates value.
What she's saying: "The mindset of driving commercial benefit is a big shift, and one that obviously takes a lot of work," she told Axios.
- "I think it's part of a bigger trend from the last 10 years or more, where we as a function have gone from originally being seen as the keepers of the media universe and potentially employees, to connecting the dots across all of our key stakeholders in the business and looking to drive commercial value and driving business growth through what we're doing."
How she got here: Hart got her start in the London office of strategic communications advisory Brunswick Group, where she spent more than a decade.
- She then served as vice president, communications at Anheuser-Busch before joining Danone in 2019.
How it's structured: Hart reports to Danone North America's general secretary Nancy Dowling and oversees a team of 14 responsible for communications and government affairs.
- "The team is structured in basically three main pillars," she said. "The first is the promote pillar, which we proactively tell our story externally — so our corporate communication, brand communications and brand PR. I also oversee a pillar that is focused on government affairs on the federal and state level and understanding the policies that affect our business and translating that to our business partners. And then I have a new pillar, which we've just created, which serves as a corporate affairs bridge between government affairs and comms and help to connect the dots across the team."
She's watching how executives are communicating more — and in atypical ways — on social media.
- "I think LinkedIn continues to be increasingly relevant, and there are a couple of leaders that have been doing very unexpected things. One example is [Blackstone chief operating officer] Jon Gray — and I think his communications team has done an amazing job bringing their business to life in little short LinkedIn videos."
- "There's a level of informality that is new and fresh. We have been doing similar things internally and externally, and I think that speaks to a broader move towards more informality and people's need and desire for that."
Content plate: Hart starts her day by consuming newsletters and listening to BBC News podcasts on her commute.
- She's also recently binged "The Diplomat" and "The Great British Bake Off" and is currently reading the Percy Jackson series alongside her 10-year-old child.
De-stress routine: Spending time with her kids (she also has a 3-year-old).
- "It's a great de-stress routine, because your kids, they don't care what you do at work. They care about what's in front of them, which can be riding their bike or reading a book and so I think it gives really wonderful perspective."
Best career advice came from her mom: Be kind.
- "It's so simple. What we do is all about relationships and building human connection, and so I try really hard to live that one."
