Sarah McGowan

With over 25+ years of experience in the retail industry, Sarah has an extensive background in talent management, learning and development, diversity and inclusion, and general management. During her 20+year tenure at Ahold Delhaize, a large multinational food retailer, she worked in Human Resources at regional and global levels focusing on business transformation, culture shaping, HR strategy, talent & organizational development, and diversity & inclusion. Sarah also spent time in the business focused on strategy & commercial transformation, and served as a Vice President of Operations.

In her most recent role, Sarah was the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion and Talent Management for the 400,000+ person organization. Sarah serves on the Advisory Board for the LEAD Network, a European organization with 13,000 members focused on advancing women in the consumer goods and retail industries. She is a professor in the Strategic Human Resources graduate program at the University of Denver, where she teaches courses on inclusion, HR & the global economy, and the principles and practices of HR.

Sarah is a native of the U.S. and earned her MBA from Boston College Carroll School of Management, a Master’s Degree in Labor Relations and Human Resources, and a BA in Sociology from Michigan State University. She recently achieved a certification in Blockchain Strategy from The Said School of Business at Oxford. She resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with her husband, children, and dogs.