Erica Matthews | Influence 100 2022
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Erica Matthews

Head of International Corporate Affairs
Alibaba
US

In February of last year Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group promoted Erica Matthews to its top international communications role, replacing Jennifer Kuperman (who has since joined Trailrunner, the consultancy founded by another Alibaba veteran, Jim Wilkinson). As head of international corporate affairs, Matthews oversees the full range of global PR activities, including boosting the brand’s status in foreign countries and managing its reputation.

Matthews has worked in Alibaba’s communications operation for more than six years, most recently serving as head of international corporate communications, in which role she led corporate comms outside of Asia.

Earlier, she spent four years at Pepsico, first as director of public policy and sustainability and later as chief of staff in the office of the chairman and CEO, working closely with Indra Nooyi. Before that, she was a corporate citizenship advisor at Exxon Mobil and was a manager of the Global Initiative to Measure the Progress of Societies at the OECD.