Azita Shariaty Khalil Abad (born 14 January 1968) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

business executive. Since 2014, she has headed the Swedish branch of the French catering and support services multinational

Sodexo Sodexo (formerly Sodexho Alliance) is a French food services and facilities management company headquartered in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. It has 412,088 employees as of 2021, operates in 55 countries and serves 100 million custome ...

where she oversees operations for the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. In February 2015, the Swedish weekly business magazine '' Veckans Affärer'' named her the most powerful business woman in Sweden.

Biography

Born in Iran, Shariati flew to

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Sweden, in 1988 to visit her boyfriend, Farzin Mirsaidi, a political refugee. She decided to stay, married her boyfriend (a municipal administrator in Sigtuna), and learned to speak Swedish. She studied food economics at the University of Gothenburg and took courses in statistics, leadership and marketing at the university's

business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...

. When her husband received a new appointment in Nynäshamn, the couple moved with their son to the

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

area. In 1998, she came into contact with Sodexo where she was first employed as a roving restaurant manager, replacing absentee managers. She rose quickly up the company's hierarchical tree, becoming district manager, regional manager, sales director, business area manager, manager for Sweden and finally managing director of Sodexo in Sweden and administrative director in Denmark. In 2010, as Sodexo's country manager for Sweden, she launched a programme on gender equality, aiming for 50% of senior positions to be occupied by women. At the time, only 14% were women. By 2015, women represented 50% of the company's overall management and 46% of senior management. In an interview with ''Veckans Affärer'', she explained she now wanted to concentrate on other areas of equality and inclusion, especially increasing job satisfaction so as to make Sodexo one of Sweden's best employers. She also intended to extend the company's interests, perhaps doubling the number of employees. She saw new opportunities in the company's cleaning operations which, for example, could be combined with more concern for patient care in hospitals. Another area she intended to impact was the reduction of food waste. In August 2015, Azita Shariati was also listed as one of the top 20 women in business in northern Europe by the ''

Nordic Business Report Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, written in plural as Nordics, the northwestern European countries, including Scandinavia, Fennoscandia and the North Atlantic * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in ...

'' which described her as "a passionate advocate of gender balance and multiculturalism". In June 2019 she accepted the position as Group CEO of AniCura, one of Europe's leading providers of veterinary care for companion animals. AniCura is a division of the US-based company Mars Petcare.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shariaty, Azita 1968 births Living people Swedish women business executives Iranian emigrants to Sweden