Five Questions with IFF’s New VP of Sustainability, Renee Henze

In July 2023, Renee Henze began her new role as Vice President, Global Sustainability, leading IFF’s companywide sustainability initiatives.

The appointment follows the announcement of IFF’s strategic framework to Do What Matters Most for driving sustained profitable growth, deepening its commitment to customers, and embedding Environmental, Social and Governance, plus Sustainable Solutions (or “ESG+”) priorities across the entire enterprise.  

As Renee steps into this new role, we sat down with her to understand her journey with IFF, what she plans to prioritize, and what sustainability means to her, personally and professionally.

Read on to learn more about Renee and the future of sustainability at IFF. 

Q: Tell us a bit about your journey with IFF.

Henze: Before taking on the role in Sustainability, I led the global marketing and sustainability initiatives for the Home & Personal Care (HPC) business within the Health & Biosciences (H&B) division at IFF. Within the HPC business, the main products are enzymes and DEB (designed enzymatic biomaterials) – technologies that are both inherently bio-based and biodegradable, with significant performance improvements. So, being able to highlight the sustainability credentials of our products to customers was just naturally part of our business value proposition.

Before HPC, I led commercial development and marketing for H&B’s biomaterials business (part of DuPont at that time). There, I was involved primarily with the global marketing of bio-based fibers for apparel brands and bio-based products for personal care companies. I also spent time leading a joint venture that we had with a Chilean salmon aquaculture company where we partnered to feed, raise, market and sell sustainably-raised farmed salmon!

“Sustainability is just who I am, my makeup, my background, my passion. I remember the point earlier in my career when I realized that I could do this every day and make a positive difference in the world – it was a lightbulb moment for me.” 

- Renee Henze

Q: IFF has signaled the importance of sustainability as a strategic imperative. What does “embedding ESG+ in all we do” mean to you, and what are the most critical ways IFF is doing this?

Henze: To me, embedding ESG+ in all that we do means that, eventually (but not too soon! [laughs]), my role will become obsolete as sustainability considerations become naturally integrated into each business. In the meantime, we are building sustainability into every process and program within the organization, and related sustainability metrics will increasingly be key indicators of the Company’s “health,” performance and success – much like we already have for financials. It also means that IFF’s brand position, messaging and thought leadership seamlessly weave sustainability and our sustainable innovations together as one and the same.

We’re already seeing this journey at work within IFF. Across the company, we’re engaged in meaningful activities in energy reduction and capital-led improvement programs at our manufacturing sites, responsible sourcing and certifications programs for our ingredients/feedstocks, our proprietary Innovation for Sustainability (I4S) model for portfolio assessment, life-cycle-assessments, ensuring that all new products have a sustainability value proposition and active engagement with our customers to help them achieve their sustainability goals.

“I truly believe that sustainability is part of our IFF identity, brand and who we are. I’d like ‘sustainability at IFF’ and our product offerings to be synonymous. And we are getting there, with our Do More Good Plan goal for every new innovation to have a sustainability value proposition by 2030.”

 - Renee Henze

Q: A hallmark of IFF’s corporate strategy is to Be the Premier Partner for customers, who are also among the top stakeholder groups creating pressure on companies to invest in sustainability initiatives. How do you see IFF leveraging the Do More Good (DMG) Plan to help execute this focus area?

Henze: Simply put, we have the unique opportunity to leverage our DMG Plan to delight our customers and to create a substantial competitive advantage for IFF.

This means being able to proactively provide our customers’ Scope 3 and other sustainability-related data; provide them with the sustainability information and analyses that lead them to choose our products preferentially; and develop the innovations that solve their sustainability and performance challenges while helping them achieve their own ESG-related goals. It also means we can partner with our customers to be thought leaders and sustainability stewards to help differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

"At IFF, we believe that our competitive advantage is what we do around the support of our customers and the innovations that we create that help them propel sustainability.”

- Renee Henze

Q: You have already mentioned the importance of innovation. Why do you think this is so fundamental, and what does it mean for the future of sustainability at IFF?

Henze: As a company, we continue to make significant investments in our R&D program to expand our biotech capabilities, commercialize existing pipelines, launch new and exciting customer collaborations, and fuel other transformational projects that will accelerate digitalization and analytics.

These opportunities – coupled with our commitment to ensure that all innovations moving forward have a sustainability value proposition – mean that we have the potential to exponentially multiply the positive impacts we can have on society and the environment. In short, sustainability and innovation are, for us, intrinsically linked to our future success.

"The emphasis we place on the power of R&D communicates that sustainable innovations are the core underpinning of what we do, our competitive advantage and the way we’re going to grow our company.”

- Renee Henze

Q: What does sustainability mean to you in your life and interests outside of work?

Henze: The things that I love to do outside of work are all rooted in the natural world–hiking, skiing, kayaking and running. I have been very fortunate in my personal and professional life to have had the opportunity to go to some unique places and experience these things.

With this also comes the opportunity to see the world through a different lens, particularly in more remote parts, where you notice both the good and bad – the pristine and irreplaceable beauty on one hand versus the impacts that things like climate change and social injustice are having on marginalized communities. It compels me to do what I can to pass on a more equitable and sustainable world for my child and the next generations.

Renee exploring Patagonia in the southernmost tip of South America, amidst the only glacier in the world that is not shrinking.

Sustainability is also an essential element of the marketing and public relations courses I teach as an Adjunct Professor at New York University. My students examine the role that social, technological and cultural influences have on the success or failure of brands, and sustainability has become an unequivocal part of that consideration because it’s just how product development and marketing are done today.

" More than just being the right thing to do, sustainability is good for business. We are not a charity. These things have to make good business sense – and they do.”

- Renee Henze

We see that same philosophy reflected here at IFF through the importance of sustainability in our product pipeline and how we communicate in the marketplace. This is how business is going and how we have to show up to thrive in the future. It is what our stakeholder expect.

Renee observing the natural beauty of the Dolomites, a mountain range in northeastern Italy, during a summer hike.

Learn more about IFF’s Do More Good Plan and commitment to sustainability in our 2022 Do More Good Report.