ABOUT LAUREN

Lauren Harris currently serves as the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Manager at Hess Corporation, reporting to the Global Head of DEI. Lauren is a graduate of Spelman College where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. Upon graduation, Lauren spent the first several years of her career at Nielsen supporting the commercial teams as a Research Analyst and then as a Sales Manager where she worked with global food/beverage and over-the-counter consumer packaged goods manufacturers in their quests to successfully bring new products to market. During this time, Lauren also served as a recruitment leader for historically Black colleges and universities.

In 2019, Lauren's career shifted to focus full-time on two passion areas - talent and diversity. She then moved to a position as Diversity Engagement & Talent Acquisition Manager where she developed several customized programs to support a diverse, inclusive, and high-performing organization. Some of these programs include a job summit for African-American and Latinx university students, a mid-career level talent development program for diverse associates, an LGBT+ recruiting initiative, and a pro bono minority business consulting initiative.

After a few years of success implementing and standing up several new DEI and talent programs at Nielsen, Lauren transitioned into her most recent role as Director of Global DEI at NielsenIQ (formerly Nielsen). In this capacity, Lauren was responsible for integrating DEI into all areas of the talent pipeline from attraction to exit, establishing corporate partnerships, overseeing employee resource groups, developing/deploying DEI training, and establishing DEI talent programming.

In her current role, Lauren leads DEI culture programs, employee resource group, strategic DEI partnerships and DEI training at Hess Corporation. 

Lauren lives in Houston, TX where she enjoys traveling, cycling, and spending time with her family.