Driving success through diversity

Sugako C. Anderson began her Anheuser-Busch career as an accountant at the St. Louis corporate headquarters from 2007-2009, handling excise taxes for several breweries and wholly-owned distributors.

In addition to her core responsibilities, for the past three years she has served as the chair of the brewer’s Asian Employee Resource Group (PAC.ASIA). 

In her current position as Business Analyst she is responsible for supporting multiple brand teams with insights and analysis. She brings a passion to the position matched by her enthusiasm for PAC.ASIA.

“I strive to take the platform of Diversity and create an atmosphere of inclusion through shared interest and initiatives,” she said. PAC.ASIA has evolved into a tangible reference of support for the company, for the brand teams, employee engagement and overall cultural enlightenment.

The goal of PAC.ASIA is to take the platform of our similar heritage and connect it to a business purpose to impact the company internally and externally. Over the past three years, the group used cultural awareness events and the arts as a way to highlight common interests and celebrate various aspects of an expansive Asian heritage. These exhibits provide an opportunity for employees to be exposed to and ask questions about cultural aspects they may not otherwise experience.

“We now have our cultural celebrations annually and employees look forward to our Lion Dance or traditional South Asian dance performances,” Anderson added. “We’ve created an environment that welcomes inquiry, increases employee engagement and drives our business’ success.”

In the past, corporations would have to reach out to vendors to provide such services as translation and cultural interpretation. The PAC.ASIA members have a unique opportunity to support the company’s brands by providing timely and effective feedback in these areas to help with product launches overseas and other brand and global initiatives.

Anderson is currently working on a language-building initiative to increase local employees’ ability to take advantage of global opportunities. The idea is to connect employees interested in learning another language with those who are already fluent. The program called, “Language, Lunch and Learn,” has had an explosive interest from individuals at various levels within our company. 

“Professionals today are constantly challenged to balance work with their various personal goals,” Anderson said. “This initiative allows all who are interested to meet over lunch, with no pressure of a rigid schedule, or strict classroom environment.”

The goal is to create an atmosphere where employees learn at their own paces and build proper language structure and enunciation through casual conversation. 

Furthermore, PAC.ASIA has recently connected with the St. Louis Language Immersion School (SLLIS). SLLIS provides a completely immersive language program for children (K-4) in Spanish, French, Mandarin (Chinese), and hopefully in 2013, Japanese. Our collaboration with the school helps us to connect to our vision for community engagement. We are thoroughly supportive of SLLIS, since building a language community also flows into building a diverse and inclusive community. We are excited to see the school grow and will strive to see SLLIS grow into a K-12 program. Our long-term goal is to mentor students as they seek to achieve higher education and realize the personal impact our ERG can have on the greater community.

“Having served as the PAC.ASIA chair since the ERG’s infancy has been rewarding and its success is due to the engagement of its members, the collaboration with other A-B ERGs and excellent executive support,” Anderson said.

Sugako C. Anderson, Business Analyst

Anheuser-Busch

Born:

Quantico, VA

Upbringing: Okinawa, Japan & Augusta, GA

Education:

High School: George P. Butler High, Augusta, GA

College(s) & Degree:

University of Maryland – Eastern Division, Okinawa, Japan

Webster University – Webster Grove, MO, Bachelors of Science, Accounting

Member of the following:

Chair of PAC.ASIA Employee Resource Group (one of several A-B affinity groups)

Alumni of Alpha Lambda Phi- WEBU Accounting Club