The Drinks Association is pleased to welcome Rachel Harris-Hall, Head of HR ANZ at Brown-Forman, as the new Chair of the HR Directors Forum. With a career spanning more than two decades across the beverages and FMCG sectors, Rachel brings deep industry knowledge, a genuine passion for people and a clear vision for what the Forum can achieve.
A career rooted in the drinks industry
Early in her career, Rachel spent 13 years in HR roles at Lion, before moving out of the sector to lead People and Culture at global bubble tea brand Chatime – navigating HR across the USA, Asia, and Australia. Returning to the liquor industry at Brown-Forman was like coming home.
"My true 'spiritual home' has always been the liquor industry," she says. "I fell in love with the unique craft, heritage and pace of the drinks business.
“Whether it's mastering change management or driving leadership development, my journey has been defined by a passion for the liquid in the bottle and the incredible people who put it there."
From organisational leader to industry shaper
Stepping into the Chair role, Rachel is energised by the shift from solving problems within a single organisation to influencing the industry at large. "Being the person who facilitates that 'look over the fence' is a privilege," she reflects. "I'm energised by the prospect of moving from individual problem-solving to collective industry shaping."
She has three clear priorities as Chair:
- harnessing collective intelligence to tackle the industry's toughest HR challenges
- creating a space for honest, candid conversation among peers
- translating forum discussions into practical, actionable benchmarks.
Critically, she also wants to address one of the less acknowledged realities of senior HR leadership. "The HRD role can be a lonely one," she says. "I'm looking forward to fostering an environment where we can get into the honest, gritty challenges of talent, culture and strategy."
Building a future-ready workforce, together
With the drinks industry navigating slowing volume growth, rising costs, shifting consumer behaviour and evolving regulation, Rachel sees a timely opportunity for HR leaders to step into genuine enterprise leadership. She wants the Forum to be the engine room for that shift.
The conversation she's most eager to kick off centres on future-proofing the workforce across the full breadth of the industry. "How do we build a more adaptive, skills-led workforce strategy that works across the full breadth of our industry?" she asks. "That includes rethinking career pathways, investing in capability over credentials, and ensuring we're designing roles and environments where people can sustainably perform."
For Rachel, the Forum's power lies in its ability to turn a group of individual HR directors into a unified industry voice – one capable of driving change on issues like inclusion, safety and responsible consumption that no single organisation can solve alone.