HE&R Celebrates International Women's Day #IWD2019

Since 1910, organizations across the globe have marked International Women’s Day. On this, the 108th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R) celebrates our own women leaders - past and present.

Our rich tradition of female leaders started with Catherine “Kitty” Hershey, wife of our founder, Milton S. Hershey. Unable to have children of their own, Milton and Kitty decided to use their fortune to create a home and school for orphaned boys, now known as Milton Hershey School. The School was established in 1909 and Milton famously gave credit to his wife with the well-known quote, “It was Kitty’s idea.”

Throughout the years, HE&R has proudly employed a number of female leaders across the destination. In 2005, a group of women formed the HE&R resource group, Women in Leadership (WIL). The original WIL group consisted of 25 managers from across the company. With a mix of team members from an array of departments, including operations, marketing, human resources, finance and communications, WIL launched with the following charter:

….to be a strong group of women leaders in business, celebrating our differences, finding our voice, and engaging in a personal and professional journey inclusive of networking, support, sharing, advocacy, confidence-building, and mentoring others in an effort to enhance our strength and influence in driving results for the HE&R organization.

WIL continues today and throughout the last 14 years, the group has been credited with bringing in a number of notable speakers, driving important conversations, sharing relevant information and offering programs to help the next generation of women leaders thrive at HE&R. Our organization is proud of this resource group as it is an important piece of our company’s strategy around inclusion.

Today, HE&R boasts five women among its 10 company officers. For the first time in its 109-year history, Hersheypark is led by a woman who is one of just a few female leaders in the amusement park industry. Our head legal officer, chief marketing officer and vice president of finance are accomplished women. That’s just a small sampling of the many successful women leading departments and initiatives across the company.

HE&R celebrates women everywhere and thanks our female team members who help make our organization what it is today!