British American Tobacco - Soraya Benchikh

I started my career as a management trainee with Gillette before moving on to various Finance roles with Gillette and then General Electric before starting my BAT journey. At BAT, I progressed through various pivotal roles; from Duty Free to Finance Director across Egypt, France, Russia, and then Europe. Eventually, I advanced into general management, spearheading our operations in France and later overseeing our Eastern and Southern Africa region as CEO.

Before rejoining BAT, I spent the last four years at Diageo, initially leading as Managing Director for Northern Europe and later ascending to President for Europe on the Global Executive Committee. These roles further honed my passion for transformative leadership and my commitment to fostering creative and empowered teams.