By Adam Sylvain
26 August 2025
The marketing “bug” bit early for Yvonne Hsu TEE’14, president of Hill’s Pet Nutrition. Growing up, her entrepreneur parents ran a company that manufactured blinds and window treatments. As an after-school employee she helped them puzzle through ways to stand out to consumers in the big box retailers where their products were sold.
“I’ve always had this innate fascination with people, what motivates them, and how they think,” says Hsu, who studied psychology at Cornell before joining the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. After earning her MBA, she spent nearly two decades at Colgate Palmolive where she had the opportunity to further explore the factors that influence consumer behavior.
“You are constantly asking how you can better understand people and then using that knowledge to influence the products they use and love,” says Hsu. “That curiosity and consumer-focused mindset has been the backbone of my business career.”
The pet food category was entirely new to Hsu when she joined Hill’s in 2018, first as director of marketing before eventually becoming executive vice president of global growth and innovation and most recently, president. While advancing deeper into her leadership career, Hsu says she has continued to lean on many of the skills and frameworks she learned as a participant in Tuck Executive Education’s Global Leadership Program.
“Without question, the experience has helped me become a more adaptive and empathetic leader.”
Hsu was a fast-rising marketing leader at Colgate Palmolive when she was nominated to join the program in 2014. During Global Leadership, she learned from and alongside executives from Cigna, John Deere, and Rolls-Royce while developing a wider business and leadership lens through on-the-ground visits to India and China.
“My time with Tuck Executive Education was transformational,” Hsu says. “During the home visits, what struck me the most was seeing how happy and resilient people were despite having very little based on our American standards. Without question, the experience has helped me become a more adaptive and empathetic leader.”
The program was the perfect on ramp to Hsu’s first global leadership role as Colgate Palmolive’s marketing director for the Australia and New Zealand region. In her more recent work at Hill’s, she has adopted concepts like “The Power of Three,” introduced during Global Leadership, to sharpen her focus and add clarity to strategic decisions.
“One of the prevailing challenges for any business leader is doing everything you can to be one percent better today, while simultaneously thinking five years into the future,” says Hsu. “You must be able to juggle that, and things move quickly. I tell myself and my team that if you can’t tell it to me in three points, it’s too complicated.”
Hill’s is on an entirely different growth trajectory than it was when Hsu joined the company seven years ago, which she credits to the hard work that’s been done to listen to consumers and share the brand with new audiences.
A focus on omni-demand generation has helped Hsu and her team consider how they can win over more pet owners through the endorsement of veterinarians as well as service and supply retailers like PetSmart and Petco.
“One of the prevailing challenges for any business leader is doing everything you can to be one percent better today, while simultaneously thinking five years into the future.”
“In most cases, veterinarians and pet store associates are the first people a person is going to look to when it comes to the science-based nutrition and well-being of their pet,” says Hsu. “We want them to be informed and highly effective advocates for our brand.”
Growing the e-commerce business and doubling down on efforts to reach consumers in the ever-evolving digital space is another focus area for Hsu.
“When I was a young marketer, I knew all about the 30-second TV spot and where to place them,” says Hsu. “It’s a different world today and you have to be really nimble and creative in asking, ‘How do we show in up in every moment that matters?’”
Hsu says what keeps her motivated today is what first drew her to Hill’s—the opportunity to drive growth for a purpose-driven company with a mission that practically anyone can get behind.
“At the end of the day, our mission is to lengthen the special relationships that exist between people and their pets. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”
