IRENE SIBAJA

Senior Director, Hispanic Marketing
7-Eleven

Irene Sibaja is 7-Eleven’s ambassador to the Network of Executive Women and the firm’s recently appointed senior director of Hispanic marketing.

In this new role, Sibaja will lead the creation, development and management of integrated Hispanic marketing programs for the nation’s largest c-store chain. She will work closely with Merchandising and Operations and report to Rita Bargerhuff, 7-Eleven’s vice president of marketing.

Sibaja joined 7-Eleven in 2001 as special assistant to the Office of the President and has held the positions of manager of planning and market manager for southern Colorado. For the past two years Sibaja has been a director on 7-Eleven’s Retailer Initiative Team, whose focus is to ensure that the company is building systems that support simplified execution of the company’s retailer initiative strategy.

Prior to joining 7-Eleven Sibaja was an associate at Booz Allen in Dallas. She graduated magna cum laude from Rice University and received her MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Q. We’ve just entered what may be one of the worst retail environments in recent history. Which retail sectors do you think are the most vulnerable?

A. In my opinion, the sectors that are the most vulnerable are those that primarily sell products that, for most people, are “nice to haves” not “have to haves.” That said, within every sector there are companies that are more or less vulnerable. The most vulnerable will be those who are purely reactive to the economic problems. The companies in each sector who have a plan to take care of their customers and are successful in executing that plan should weather the downturn better and will be better positioned for success when the economy turns around.

Q. What, if anything, can a retailer do to soften the impact of the recession?

A. Retailers need to have a clear vision of who they are and what their value proposition for the customer is. Then they need to do a better job than the competition of executing that value proposition. For us, it means being in stock on the items our customers are looking for the most. We need to be a reliable destination to hold on to our customers and keep them coming to us for their convenience needs. Hopefully, when they have more money to spend they will find more to spend it on in our stores.

Q. The Hispanic market is the country’s fastest-growing demographic. Do you think most retailers are doing a good job serving the Latino customer?

A. While some retailers are ahead of the curve in focusing on this market, I think that, in general, the Hispanic population is underserved. Frequently what you see is a general market spot, ad or POP that is simply translated [from one language to another]. The simple translation does nothing to address the purchase drivers of a Hispanic vs. a general market consumer. Retailers need to do a better job of understanding what is important to the Hispanic consumer in general, and how that differs across generations and across different degrees of acculturation. Armed with that knowledge they will be in a better position to meet customer needs. We will be working hard to identify who the Hispanic customers are, what they are about and how to ensure that our stores have the products they need day in and day out.

Q. 7-Eleven has taken some ribbing from the popular media about its diverse labor force. But you’ve really embraced that diversity as an asset.

A. Diversity is a huge asset, and we have a long way to go! A diverse workforce better represents the diverse cultures that make up the United States. There are also issues of age and economic diversity to consider. We cannot underestimate how important it is for the diverse cultures to learn how to communicate effectively with each other. A better understanding of and ability to communicate across our differences will be a critical success factor in our business going forward.

Q. What kind of diversity initiatives do you have at 7-Eleven?

A. We are really in our infancy in terms of diversity initiatives. From an internal perspective, we are using our involvement with the Network of Executive Women as a lever to start a women’s affinity group. The Network’s knowledge and contacts have been a valuable way to learn best practices as we start our own initiative.

Q. Women do not have a reputation as frequent c-store customers. What is the industry doing to help change that?

A. For a long time, the core consumer has been the male 18-34. Women have historically perceived a convenience store as dirty and unsafe, with poor quality products. Yet retailers know that women make or impact a significant portion of the purchasing decisions in a household, and we need to work more actively to attract women to our stores. Many in the industry have responded to women’s safety concerns by adding lighting and making the inside of the store more visible to the street. Cleanliness issues have also been a focus area. Over the years we have seen the percentage of female customers grow. They, too, need convenience in a clean and friendly environment. While product assortments have changed to include fresher and healthier items, there remains significant opportunity in gaining credibility among female shoppers.

Q. As 7-Eleven’s ambassador to NEW, what benefits has 7-Eleven derived from its long association with the Network?

A. The single biggest benefit has been the ability to network with vendors and other retail companies. NEW has helped us understand the role women leaders play in other retail businesses and how to help women grow internally. We have used the best practice knowledge of the Network and companies inside of the network to establish our own internal women’s group.

Q. What are some of the strategies the CPG/retail industry can use to recruit retain and advance women executives?

A. I think our industry is making great strides in recruiting and retaining women. That said, we need to ask ourselves why women are such a high percentage of the workforce at lower levels, but not so at higher levels. At the 2008 NEW Leadership Summit Cathleen Benko spoke about working inside of organizations to make career and life work together. The industry will do a better job of recruiting, retaining and promoting women if it focuses more on this mission. In addition, the industry needs to better understand how different communication styles work together. In doing so, we will not only better meet our customers’ needs, we will also see more diversity among executives.

Q. What advice would you give women starting out their careers in the retail and CPG industries?

A. The single biggest piece of advice I would give to anyone starting out their career in retail/CPG is to get your hands on the business early and often. There is no substitute for frontline experience -- for being in the stores and understanding what it takes to keep them going day in and day out, and to experience the customer needs and wants firsthand. At the very least, this kind of experience builds credibility with your colleagues. I would also encourage people to seek opportunities to learn different parts and aspects of the business when the opportunity presents itself. Also of critical importance -- be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses, and be assertive about seeking out mentors who will help you improve upon those strengths and weaknesses.

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