Alicia Petross
Alicia is the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer for The Hershey Company. Alicia is regarded as an expert diversity, equity, and inclusion networker and advisor. A member of the Human Resources Leadership Team since December 2015, she leads the development and execution of Hershey’s diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies. Alicia partners with key internal and external leaders to develop more innovation and robustness in Hershey’s global climate and inclusion programming. Externally, Alicia expands Hershey’s partnership framework and represents the company in key industry commitments, including the Network of Executive Women (NEW), Paradigm for Parity, CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, and the National Organization on Disability Look Closer Campaign. In 2021, Hershey ranked #10 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list including ranking as a Top Company for Latino Executives and earned its seventh consecutive 100% rating on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index. Alicia has more than 15 years of progressive human resources experience. She joined Hershey from the Target Corporation, where she played a key role in advancing and executing inclusion and engagement strategy and led the company’s ascension to the Top 20 in the Diversity Inc. Top 50 Companies for Diversity rankings. Prior to joining Target, Alicia held various jobs including Store Team Leader at the Dayton Hudson Corporation – where she was the first African American woman to hold this position
