Hear from our Global Procurement Sustainability Manager on her role, life at Diageo and top tips for future talent

Hear from our Global Procurement Sustainability Manager on her role, life at Diageo and top tips for future talent

5 Aug 2022

Our procurement teams play a pivotal role in ensuring that our business, employees, and iconic brands can continue to thrive by offering innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable supplier solutions that maximise the positive impact we have on communities we source from. Embedding sustainability into our procurement practice is key for Diageo’s Society 2030 agenda - our 10-year ESG action plan to help create a more inclusive and sustainable world.

Hannah Yarr our Global Procurement Sustainability Manager spoke to us about her role in the Sustainable Procurement team and how she’s helping create an impact.

Hannah Yarr, Global Procurement Sustainability Manager

Tell us about your role as Global Procurement Sustainability Manager at Diageo  

I’ve recently moved from my role as Procurement lead for the Irish Brand Homes which covered the Guinness Storehouse, Open Gate, Roe and Co, and Smithwicks into my new role within the Sustainable Procurement team. It’s part of a newly formed team focussing on our Society 2030 agenda which is all about how Diageo can help to create an inclusive and sustainable world.

I’ll be specifically looking at who and how we partner externally with academics, organisations and industry, as well as creating our funding strategy, and then how we embed sustainability into our procurement ways of working each day. I support all the different subject matter experts within our sustainability team, from packaging and raw materials to how we then communicate and govern all of the processes. My role allows me to understand what all our priorities are, how we can bring external insight in, and leverage the industry for us to work together.

What has your career journey at Diageo been like?

I joined Diageo in 2016 as a graduate on the Supply Chain and Procurement leadership three-year programme, typically rotating across Manufacturing, Procurement, Sustainability and Planning & Logistics. My first rotation was in packaging projects based in Glasgow where I learnt all about our suppliers manufacturing processes, contract management and sourcing exercises.

I was lucky enough to move for my second-year rotation to Dublin where I worked as the asset care lead at our Baileys manufacturing site. Each day was completely different, it was challenging but you could physically see products being made, and how changes could be implemented. The team were brilliant in integrating me onto the site, and I learnt a lot about myself whilst there, for instance how much I enjoy people management, and what drives me in my career.

Edinburgh came after this where I managed logistics for Scotland within the procurement organisation In 2020, I transferred into the marketing procurement space in a newly established role looking after our brand homes in Ireland, managing budgets across a number of categories which made each day really interesting, and I met so many brilliant people through our supplier partnerships. It was from here that I then moved into my current role!  

What do you enjoy the most about your role at Diageo?

Diageo is an amazing company that gives you so many opportunities to personally grow and have a varied career path. One month you could be working on a tender which could shape the future of a category for many years, you could then be helping run a bottling line, and then find yourself working on our 2030 sustainability target.  Each role shows you a different part of the business, has new stakeholders and challenges you in so many ways. I have learnt so much about what I want out of a career, what I am passionate about, and what drives me to get out of my comfort zone to deliver all whilst working across varied roles at Diageo.

Why is working on these projects beneficial for  your career at Diageo?

Each day gives me a purpose -  you can see the difference we can drive to make our products more sustainable. Ensuring that sustainability is part of everyday processes is also important to ensure our teams have the right capability, documents and monitoring to ensure we stay on track, challenge our progress and bring everyone on the journey.

Any careers advice to share or top tips to get into procurement?

There is so much happening in this space and it’s constantly evolving. Procurement needs people who can work collaboratively, keep up to speed on the latest news and keep an open mind on what change could look like – if this sounds like you, it’s definitely worth considering a role in procurement!