How Did I Get Here?

Tracey Massey

President, Mars Chocolate North America
from
  • Education
  • Lady Margaret School, London, class of 1986
  • Loughborough University, England, class of 1990
  • Work Experience
  • 1990–92
    Manufacturing graduate trainee, industrial engineer, shift manager, Mars Drinks
  • 1992–2001
    Various finance jobs, European financial controller, Mars Drinks
  • 2001–03
    Finance director, Mars Petcare
  • 2003–04
    Plant director, Mars Petcare
  • 2004–06
    Financial controller, vice president for finance, Mars North America
  • 2006–09
    Chief financial officer, Mars Chocolate U.S.
  • 2009–14
    CFO, Mars Chocolate Global
  • 2014–Present
    President, Mars Chocolate North America
  • Life Lessons
  • “Find a company whose professional values match your own.”
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  • “Hire people you would want to work for.”
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  • At her college graduation
    “It’s a prestigious high school—a church school. I lived halfway across London, but my mother really pushed me to test in.”
  • “I didn’t have any experience at all in finance or accounting. I did different jobs and learned everything: payroll, customer collections, planning, control.”
  • With her dogs, Diva and Leia, 2012
    “Pet care is a more emotional business than I expected. It’s amazing how much consumers adore their pets. We did a lot of work with shelters and helping people adopt.”
  • “Because we’re privately owned, I didn’t have to take part in analyst calls each quarter. You get a lot more time to spend on strategy and long-term thinking, and I also spend significant time mentoring.”
  • With her daughter at the opening of M&M’s World in London, 2011
  • With her classmates in the chemical engineering program at Loughborough, 1987
  • “We ground coffee and put it into individual packs. It smelled so good.”
  • “My career goal had been to run a factory, and I got it! You’re sort of CEO, because the 150 factory associates look to the plant manager as the leader.”
  • “Our businesses are pretty recession-proof. While everybody else was really struggling, people still ate chocolate and fed their pets.”
  • “We have four chocolate brands that each top $1 billion in sales annually. I oversee 4,000 people and 10 factories.”