Nneka Rimmer is currently Sr. Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Development, at McCormick and Co., a $4B publicly traded global consumer goods company. Ms. Rimmer is one of the nine named executive officers of the company, and she reports directly to the CEO. In her role Ms. Rimmer is responsible for shaping overall corporate strategies to achieve McCormick’s strategic and financial objectives. In this role she also examines the current portfolio of business, formulates growth strategies and works to increase EVA (Economic Value Added). Ms. Rimmer is the company’s senior mergers and acquisition leader, providing strategic direction for all M&A and shaping the corporate-wide portfolio strategy. In this role, Ms. Rimmer also serves as a board member for two of McCormick Joint Ventures. In addition, she globally coordinates McCormick’s internal and external research activities, consumer insight, demographic studies and competitive and market intelligence. Ms. Rimmer joined McCormick in March 2015.
Previously, Ms. Rimmer was a Partner and Managing Director with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a premier strategy consulting firm. In 2008 Ms. Rimmer was elected as the first African-American female partner in the 50-year history of The Boston Consulting Group. In her 13 years with BCG, Ms. Rimmer served as an advisor to senior executives (CEOs, EVPs and C-suite executive teams) providing counsel on a wide range of issues: competitive and growth strategies, go-to-market and trade strategy, leadership/talent development/diversity and change management.
Ms. Rimmer has been recognized a one of the Top Influential Women in Corporate America by Savoy Magazine (2012 and 2016). She currently sits on the Board of KIPP Baltimore and The Surge Institute.
Ms. Rimmer has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University, an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law.
Sneak Peek Into What You’ll Learn….
04:30 – Nneka shows us how her varied educational and professional experiences have prepared her for her executive role at McCormick and Company, the world’s largest herbs and spices company.
07:42 – Nneka shares her 15-year journey at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) culminating with her being elected the first African-American female partner in the firm’s 50-year history. She also shares how she knew it was time to move on and the innovative approach she took to finding her next, big job.
11:32 – We learn about Nneka’s journey to becoming a single mother by choice through artificial insemination, her unique living arrangement, and how she knew her son was not destined to be an only child.
20:54 – Nneka talks about the struggles, trade-offs, and challenges of being a mom while managing a big career.
26:48 – Nneka shares the top 5 pieces advice she would have given to her younger self.
31:30 – Brass Tacks— The lightning round of concrete advice and tips.
Quotable quotes:
- “Promise things, but never where you’re going to stop. Otherwise, you’ll never exceed the expectations of the person who has the ask for you.”
- “None of us, not me, and not anybody on my team, is as critical as we think we are…the important thing is to know where you are that critical, and act appropriately. That’s where you have to invest your time….That’s where you have to show up in your best self…Literally, the only way you can do that is to not show up in some other places.”
- “Disappointment is the difference between reality and expectation…I try to protect against disappointment…I don’t promise a lot, but what I promise I absolutely keep true at work, at home….”
- “When something’s not going right, being able to course correct really really quickly is incredibly important…”
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