PEX Network’s weekly news bulletin rounds up the latest from the process community including operational excellence (OPEX), digital transformation, business process management (BPM), process mining, artificial intelligence (AI) and more.
This week includes:
- Levi Strauss shakes up leadership team to inspire OPEX & transformation
- US and UK refuse to sign international AI agreement
- Heineken’s EverGreen strategy continues to shape operations
- Southwest Airlines appoints Tom Doxey to support OPEX
- ACMP celebrates Global Change Management Day
- Wesco forges ahead with ambitious digital transformation plans
- UK Armed Forces streamlines recruitment processes
- Sport 24 scores with business process mapping project
Levi Strauss shakes up leadership team to inspire OPEX & transformation
Denim retail giant Levi Strauss & Co. announced a series of leadership changes to accelerate OPEX and business transformation in a bid to become the “best-in-class” omnichannel retailer. The changes are designed to improve speed and agility, streamline decision-making, drive operational enhancements and align the company’s structure with its strategic priorities, according to a press release.
“Over the past year, we’ve made bold moves to transform Levi Strauss & Co. into a world-class denim lifestyle retailer, and we’re seeing the results,” said Michelle Gass, president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. “We believe success is built on clarity of purpose and the ability to adapt, and that’s exactly what we’re doing – aligning our structure with our strategy to drive sustainable, profitable growth. We have built a team that is agile, focused and ready to execute on our strategies while keeping our consumer at the heart of it all.”
The leadership changes are as follows:
- Karyn Hillman’s role as chief product officer (CPO) has been expanded to include merchandising in addition to design.
- Jason Gowans has become chief digital and technology officer.
- Harmit Singh’s role as chief financial and growth officer has expanded to include oversight of Levi Strauss & Co.’s transformation program.
- Gianluca Flore, chief commercial officer (CCO), has expanded his scope to oversee licensing and planning.
- Bernard Bedon has been appointed as chief human resources officer.
- Liz O’Neill, chief operations officer (COO), has announced her intention to retire after nearly 12 years at Levi Strauss & Co. The position will be replaced with a new chief supply chain officer.
Watch Pradheep Kileti, director at National Grid, discuss balancing operations with innovation
US and UK refuse to sign international AI agreement
The US and UK opted not to sign an international agreement on AI at the AI Action Summit in Paris. The statement, signed by dozens of countries including France, China and India, pledges an “open,” “inclusive” and “ethical” approach to the development of AI technology.
US Vice President JD Vance told delegates that too much regulation of AI could “kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off,” while the UK government stated it was unable to sign the declaration over concerns about national security and “global governance.”
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) announced two new AI initiatives while seemingly killing off another during the summit. It launched InvestAI and AI Champions, both of which aim to greatly support innovation and development in AI. However, European policymakers appeared to bury the controversial AI Liability Directive, proposed legislation designed to protect European citizens against damage caused by AI systems.
Watch Tyrone Smith Jr, program faculty member/adjunct associate professor at University of Southern California (USC) and founding member of Society of People Analytics (SPA), explore building trust in AI
Heineken’s EverGreen strategy continues to shape operations
The Heineken Company’s EverGreen strategy continues to shape operations at the beer brewing giant which achieved solid financial results in 2024. The company saw broad-based growth and profit expansion last year, with beer volume growing organically by 1.6 percent and net revenue increasing 5.0 percent with a strong operating profit growth of 8.3 percent. Notably, the firm’s beer volume expanded in all four regions, across both developed and emerging markets.
“Looking ahead, we are well-positioned to further increase our investment in marketing and selling and behind our EverGreen priorities in 2025,” said Dolf van den Brink, chairman of the executive board/CEO at The Heineken Company. “We expect to grow operating profit (beia) organically in the range of 4 percent to 8 percent,” he added.
As The Heineken Company advances its EverGreen journey, it remains committed to its medium-term ambition to deliver superior growth, balanced between volume and value and continuous productivity improvements to fund investments and enable operating profit to grow ahead of net revenue over time, the company stated. “We anticipate ongoing macro-economic challenges that may affect our consumers, including weak consumer sentiment in Europe, volatility, inflationary pressures and currency devaluations across developing markets and broader geopolitical fluctuations.”
Southwest Airlines appoints Tom Doxey to support OPEX
Southwest Airlines appointed Tom Doxey as new EVP and chief financial offer (CFO) to build on the firm’s financial performance and OPEX. Doxey most recently served as president of Breeze Airways, where he led the airline through a successful transformation from a startup to profitability in under two years. Prior to Breeze, he held several leadership roles at United Airlines, including SVP of technical operations and CFO of operations.
“Tom’s expertise in financial planning, fleet management and operational leadership makes him a tremendous asset to our executive team as we drive progress on our transformational plan,” commented Bob Jordan, president, CEO and vice-chairman of the board of directors at Southwest Airlines. “We are confident that his experience in strategic transformation will be an asset as he builds upon our financial strength and OPEX, and our deep commitment to our employees, the investment community and our shareholders.”
Watch Susan Jarrell Kushnir, VP, head of investment bank talent development at Deutsche Bank, discuss how leaders can help teams navigate transformation
ACMP celebrates Global Change Management Day
The Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) celebrated the inaugural Global Change Management Day this week, recognizing the transformative power of change management and the professionals driving success in organizations worldwide.
ACMP hosted an exclusive webinar to mark the day, exploring how change management strengthens strategic foresight. It also invited people to highlight and share change management success stories and innovative projects on social media using the hashtag #GlobalCMDay.
In a LinkedIn poll, ACMP asked users to vote on the most critical factor for successful change management. The top answer (at the time of writing) was clear vision and leadership (18 percent), followed by stakeholder engagement (18 percent), effective communication (13 percent) and alignment (8 percent).
Watch Lisa Williams, global operations talent strategy and employee experience director, manufacturing and engineering operations at Dow, reflect on people-centric change management
Wesco forges ahead with ambitious digital transformation plans
Electrical distribution and services company Wesco remains committed to its ambitious digital transformation goals despite a year of stagnant sales and profits. The firm released its fourth quarter and full year 2024 results, reflecting drops in net and organic sales of 2.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, year-over-year. However, Wesco reported improvements for the fourth quarter, with net and organic sales up 0.5 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.
“We are pleased with our return to sales growth in the fourth quarter sparked by more than 70 percent growth year-over-year in our global data center business, 20 percent growth in broadband solutions and renewed positive sales momentum in electrical and electronic solutions,” said John Engel, chairman, president and CEO of Wesco.
“As we outlined in our recent Investor Day, we are committed to substantial value creation from operational improvements, digital transformation and our capital allocation strategy including additional M&A,” Engel added. “We’re well-positioned to deliver outsized growth due to the secular trends of AI-driven data centers, increased power generation, electrification, automation and reshoring. We remain laser focused on our enterprise-wide margin improvement program, which has been a historical strength for Wesco.”
Watch Nao Anthony, senior manager in OPEX at Commonwealth Bank, and Tariq Munir, APAC financial planning transformation lead at PepsiCo, discuss the complexities and challenges of digital transformation
UK Armed Forces streamlines recruitment processes
The UK Armed Forces is streamlining its recruitment processes with the help of business transformation company Pegasystems. Pega’s platform for customer service, workflow automation and generative AI-powered decisioning, will enable the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force (RAF) to form a joint recruitment service.
An integrated platform will streamline the entire recruitment journey, from initial candidate engagement through to successful enlistment and into basic training, according to a press release. This transformation will enhance candidate experience, improve assessment efficiency and support the Ministry of Defense’s strategic workforce objectives across all three services.
“The Pega Platform will directly support the achievement of military recruiting targets across defense – a critical component of national security objectives,” commented Alan Trefler, founder and CEO of Pega. “Our proven experience in this sector positions us to address the complex challenges of military recruitment, to meet the specific requirements of each service branch.”
Register for All Access: OPEX Digital Transformation in HR 2025
Sport 24 scores with business process mapping project
Denmark’s largest sports retailer Sport 24 successfully documented over 1,000 business processes in just 12 months as it seeks to accelerate growth and improve employee experience. The company realized the need for a radical review of its processes as it prepared to move to Microsoft Business Central from the soon to be defunct on-premise based Microsoft Navision, according to a press release. In partnership with business process management firm Gluu, Sport 24’s process mapping project has not only created new efficiencies but also decreased friction for workers, it added.
“We now have a management team that actively uses process mapping to drive decisions," said Lars Elsborg, CEO at Sport 24. “It’s not just an IT change – it’s a business-wide transformation that has improved our work culture and reduced friction for employees.”
Watch Tony Benedict, president of the Association of BPM Professionals International, explore breaking down silos in process management
READ MORE PEX COMMUNITY NEWS
[inlinead-1]