Nissan has named Chandra Vasser, a 17-year Nissan veteran, to the new position of vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, for its Americas region.
In this newly created role, Vasser will drive Nissan’s strategy to expand diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across business functions in the Americas region, while developing partnerships and plans to share the company’s DEI commitment with
employees, customers and the community.
“Taking actions to strengthen our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is a critical part of the culture change that we’ve committed to with our Nissan NEXT transformation,” said Jeremie Papin, chairperson, Nissan Americas. “Chandra brings
great experience to the role and will drive how we value equity and inclusion with all of our stakeholders, including employees, customers, dealers and suppliers.”
Vasser most recently was a director of finance for several sales and marketing functions in Nissan’s U.S. business operations. She joined Nissan in 2004, and worked in positions of increasing responsibility in the finance and purchasing functions.
Among her roles, she currently is a member of Nissan’s Diversity Advisory Council, and she previously worked as director of purchasing for several functional areas, which included leadership of supplier diversity. Under her leadership, Nissan was
recognized as the “2016 Corporation of the Year” by the TriState Minority Supplier Development Council (TSMSDC).
Vasser earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Tennessee State University, and an MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. She recently completed the McKinsey Academy’s Black Executive Leadership Program.
