May 15, 2023
About Alicia Petross
Alicia Petross is the Chief Diversity Officer for The Hershey Company. 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 Paradigm for Parity, CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, the National Organization on Disability Look Closer Campaign, and Financial Literacy for All. In 2022, Hershey was recognized by Forbes as one of the World’s Most Female-Friendly Companies and earned its eighth consecutive 100% rating on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index. This May, Hershey ranked #3 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list in addition to being certified as a Great Place To Work.
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 Black woman to hold this position. Alicia sits on the board of directors for the National Organization on Disability and on the board of trustees for Lebanon Valley College.