The ‘Shecession’: What comes next

Emma is Global Inclusion Leader for professional services firm Deloitte and leads delivery of the organization’s global inclusion strategy. Emma’s work in this role includes a focus on Respect & Inclusion (including the ‘Can You See Me’ campaign); gender balance (including the development of a series of interventions to enable Deloitte to meet its gender equality goals); LGBT+ inclusion (including actions to deliver on Deloitte’s commitment to the United Nations’ Standards of Conduct for Business Tackling Discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, & Intersex People]; and mental health (including the implementation of a mental health baseline globally and becoming a Founding Partner of the Global Business Collaboration on Better Workplace Mental Health). Emma’s role has also included the production of thought leadership aligned to this strategy, such as that relating to the impact of the Pandemic on women in the workplace.

Sarah grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and attended Michigan State University where she studied Sociology and obtained her first Master’s Degree in Labor Relations and Human Resources. She spent several years as a Change Management consultant at Accenture, working across a variety of industries including automotive, financial services, and consumer products. In 2000, Sarah joined Stop & Shop/Ahold and found her true passion in retail. She started in the organizational development function, and quickly moved into the strategy & business improvement area where she developed a formal strategic planning process, and overhauled and improved several key merchandising processes.

Abbe Luersman is the EVP and Chief People Officer for Otis Worldwide Corp., based out of the Netherlands through June of 2021 and as of July, Atlanta, Georgia. Abbe is a member of the Otis Executive Leadership Team responsible for the global Human Resources function. Primary area of focus: development and delivery of the people strategy – inclusive of: Talent & Diversity, Leadership, Learning & Development, Organizational Effectiveness & Development, Total Rewards and Communications.

Prior to Otis Worldwide Corp., Abbe was the CHRO for Ahold Delhaize for 5.5 years and for Ahold, prior to the merger with Delhaize, an additional 2.5 years. Ahold Delhaize is an international retailing group with strong local consumer brands in Europe and the United States with ~€75bn in revenue, 414,000 associates and serving over 54 million customers in store and 20 million online weekly.