Teaming up for governance

For PepsiCo, maintaining its best-in-class governance, compliance and ethics program is a team effort. In fact, several teams work together to handle a broad array of governance and compliance issues for the company. 

Over the last year, PepsiCo has been busy reviewing its human rights workplace policy and supplier code of conduct to strengthen its commitment to respecting human rights in its operations and supply chain. The company updated its global code of conduct to address changing laws such as the Conflict Minerals Rule that could affect its business, and also enhanced its disclosures of political spending and lobbying activities on its website and in its proxy statement to provide more detail on the board’s oversight role in this area. As rules on whistleblowing have intensified, the company also maintains its Speak Up reporting hotline, which received more than 4,000 reports in 2012 and is available in 25 languages and 50 countries.

PepsiCo provides support programs such as code of conduct, conflict of interest and anti-bribery training to ensure employees are conducting business the right way. Successfully co-ordinating efforts such as these for a global company with more than 600,000 employees is worthy of praise, and that’s why PepsiCo is the winner of Corporate Secretary’s best overall governance, compliance & ethics program award for 2013.

PepsiCo leverages the co-ordinated efforts of four internal teams to maintain a strong governance, compliance and ethics program: Larry Thompson, executive vice president for government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary, leads the development and implementation of the policies; Cynthia Nastanski, senior vice president of corporate law and the office of the corporate secretary, leads the legal team; David Yawman, senior vice president and chief compliance and ethics officer, leads the global compliance team; Allan Hoffman, senior vice president of global public policy and government affairs, leads the public policy/government affairs team; and Eric Craven, senior vice president of total rewards, leads the executive compensation team. These teams work together to address any concerns that might arise.

‘We believe strong corporate governance is the foundation of financial integrity, investor confidence and superior performance,’ says Nastanski. ‘Our model for success is based on collaboration and partnership with our internal colleagues, our investors and other interested stakeholders. Through these partnerships, we seek to ensure governance at PepsiCo is not a check-the-box exercise but is instead the dynamic, evolving framework warranted by today’s rapidly changing business environment.’

PepsiCo’s inclusion in the list of Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies and Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2013 shows its approach is working well.

For photos of the 2013 awards, click here.