An interview with Sarah Willett, Head of IR and Corporate Strategy, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

Tell us a bit about you and your role

I head up the IR and corporate strategy function at CCEP, the largest Coca-Cola bottler by revenue and listed on both the FTSE and Nasdaq 100. My role comprises investor relations across a global shareholder base and strategic board reporting to the plc Board of Directors of CCEP. I also chair the CCEP GB circa £1bn final salary pension scheme.

Why do you think the theme of ‘IR as a Trusted Advisor’ is so important this year?

Even more so this year in these turbulent times, IR should be viewed as a trusted advisor to the Board because it uniquely combines financial market intelligence, strategic judgement and credibility stewardship providing independent, decision-relevant insight into how its company is understood, trusted and valued by it shareowners. Because the Board does not engage regularly with investors or analysts, IR becomes the interpretive lens and this is important so that the Board can continue to make decisions based on real-time, evidence-based insight on how the company’s strategy is being perceived externally.

What insights will you be bringing to your panel? 

My role, being wider than IR, naturally has even more interactions with the Board, given I am also responsible for Corporate Strategy. I am therefore acting as a de facto Board advisor, preparing and shaping CEO Board materials and providing external content for annual strategy sessions, alongside advising management, on the IR side, what can and cannot be credibly communicated to the financial markets and delivering the company’s ongoing IR strategy.