Hungry for a Sweeter Workplace?

By Matthew Brodsky

Mars Inc. may be best known for its sweet treats. But it is a massive family company—the fifth largest U.S. private firm with more than 75,000 associates in 74 countries—that operates in a wide variety of industries and with household brands: a chocolate segment with M&Ms and Snickers, a petcare segment with Banfield Pet Hospitals and global brands including Pedigree and Whiskas, as well as brands like Wrigley gum and Uncle Ben’s rice. It is also a principles-based business with a strong foundation of trust—with all stakeholders, including its consumers and associates.

As recently named chairman and long-time ombudsman of her family’s firm, Victoria B. Mars WG84 embodies these values. She has an affinity for helping people—something she first got an inkling of trying her hand in Health Care Management courses at Wharton. She didn’t end up going into health care after Wharton—as she recounts, the “pull” into the family business was stronger than the pull into health care—but her innovative attention to people has put Mars at the forefront of the growing movement in corporate America toward trust.

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