Following a months-long search, Jeff Hogue is joining Levi Strauss & Co. as our new chief sustainability officer. He brings with him more than 20 years of global experience in sustainability, environmental health and quality. Jeff, who starts work July 20th, is a proven leader who shares our values and has the right expertise to help us continue evolving our sustainability initiatives to make an even greater impact on our industry and the planet.
“I am thrilled to be joining a company with such a rich history as a business and as a leader in sustainability programming,” Jeff said. “It’s an honor to be entrusted with this role – an honor that comes with responsibility, especially in this moment, to uphold and further the work that’s been done, and to drive increased sustainability leadership, both across our value chain and with consumers.”
Originally from California, Jeff spent the past six years in Brussels, where he served as chief sustainability officer at C&A, a multibillion-euro fashion retailer with operations in 20 countries. While in that role, he developed the company’s first global sustainability strategy and built a global team to integrate sustainability across the business.
Prior to his time at C&A, Jeff led the sustainability function at McDonalds Corporation, where he drove the development of the first global sustainability strategy for more than 36,000 retail locations and operations in 119 countries. He has also worked at Danisco A/S (a DuPont Corporation) and Genencor International.
Jeff shares the same attitude that animates our sustainability work at Levi Strauss & Co.: the belief that it’s not enough for companies to make statements or sign pledges – it must be about impact. For us, sustainability is not just about how we do business, but also how we show up in the world and how we respond to what our planet, our business and our consumers need. Recent highlights of our work have included groundbreaking programs such as Screened Chemistry and Water<Less®, industry-leading science-based climate targets, our Worker Well-being initiative and pioneering product innovations such as cottonized hemp.
Jeff arrives at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the notion that we must continue innovating to make our products and operations more sustainable. Building an economically and environmentally resilient business is key to addressing the overlapping challenges we need to confront as an industry, from climate risks and resource stress to consumption and gender inequality. That is how we build the strongest business for the long term, while helping the planet and our communities thrive. We look forward to Jeff carrying that work forward.
