Kimmet

At General Motors; Citigroup; Bear, Stearns & Co, Lucent Technologies; and now, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., Pam Kimmet ’80 has relied on a work ethic developed at the ILR School: “Dig in and deliver quality work. Absorb, synthesize and share back in a compelling way.”

Those skills were built and tested at ILR, Kimmet said, at a pace and volume that prepared her to hit the work world running. Kimmet and 2014 Alpern Award winner K. Lisa Yang ’74 will be honored at ILR’s March 27 celebration in New York City. The annual awards honor individuals for professional achievement and service to the ILR School.

Now senior vice president of human resources at Coca-Cola Enterprises, Kimmet wanted to be a lawyer when she discovered ILR at a high school career fair in Rochester, N.Y.

She was smitten by ILR’s social science curriculum. “It sounded exactly like the right thing for me,” Kimmet said.

After becoming an ILR student, Kimmet’s interest in human resources was ignited. Courses such as organizational design and strategic workforce planning, along with several professors, made an impact.

Kimmet is responsible for the full range of HR support for the 12,500 employees of Coca-Cola Enterprises, which she joined in 2008. The corporation manufactures, sells and distributes brands such as Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Light, Coke Zero, Abbey Well, Fanta, Capri-Sun and Monster. The company serves Belgium, France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Net sales for Coca-Cola Enterprises were $8.1 billion in 2012.

As chief HR officer, Kimmet is a member of the Coca-Cola Enterprises executive team. The role puts her in a position, she said, to “help individuals achieve their personal dreams and the company achieve success.”

Kimmet acknowledges that some aspects of work HR professionals preside over can be unpleasant. But overall, HR is “a really gratifying role.”

Kimmet chuckles that she “tries to exercise” by walking, golfing and working out with a trainer, and says she’s “gotten better” about putting work aside and pursuing other interests.

“But, if you like your work and you care about what you do and who you work with, it’s not a job,” she said. “Acting with integrity, inspiring and motivating others to do the impossible … at the end of the day, that’s a pretty rewarding life.”

Mary Catt is assistant director of communications at the ILR School.