Page 24 - MENU Magazine - Jan/Feb 2018

the torchbearers
& FOUR PILLARS OF MODERN FOODSERVICE
BY CAELI MAZARA
The food industry is perpetually adapting to new and shifting expectations and needs. Big business, small business, customer base, supply and demand, menus, products, consumer expectations, challenges and achievements—nothing stays the same for long. The torchbearers are the individuals or companies that devote themselves to exploring the new and creative, raising up diverse voices and making connections where before there were barriers. Ilham Kadri, Jen Agg, Cheryl Radisa and Susan Senecal—these are the changemakers who are challenging old ideas and shaping four pillars of modern foodservice.
1.DR ILHAM KADRI
PRESIDENT AND CEO, DIVERSEY
CHAIRWOMAN AND FOUNDER, ISSA HYGIEIA NETWORK
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JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018
Kadri truly brings international expe- rience to her role as CEO of Diversey, a company specializing in cleaning and hygiene products for the food industry and beyond. Born in Morocco, Kadri was educated in France and Quebec and has worked in Europe, the Middle East and North America. She cites
her grandmother as a driving force
in her education. A Moroccan saying, repeated to Kadri as a girl, states that
a woman has two exits in her life: One from her father’s home to her husband’s and another to the grave. Kadri sought more and found what she calls her “third exit” in the form of education.
Statistics suggest that female-led companies are more likely than their male-led counterparts to engage in innovative practices, such as lead-
ing-edge marketing strategies, delivery methods or technological develop- ment. Kadri showed that she embraces innovation when she came to Diversey tasked with bolstering profits and growing sustainable practices. There, she oversaw three successful merg- ers, launched the Internet of Clean (a platform that remotely monitors data to ensure cleaning equipment is func- tioning) and introduced the first line of commercial cleaning robots to Europe and the United States.
In 2014, Kadri created the ISSA Hy- gieia Network to connect women in the cleaning industry. Hygieia is “dedicat- ed to the advancement and retention of women in all branches and at all lev- els of the global cleaning industry.”
innovation