Jessica Rivas is the Director of Climate & Nature Sourcing Transformation within McDonald’s Global Sustainable Food Sourcing team. In this role, Jessica leads food sourcing transformation and initiatives to advance McDonald’s Climate Target and Commitment on Forests & Natural Ecosystems. In this role, she collaborates closely with colleagues in Global Supply Chain, Global Impact, Finance, suppliers, markets, and other key stakeholders to deliver value for our business and customers by creating a more sustainable and resilient supply chain.
Jessica has over 15 years of experience working in sustainable supply chains at the intersection of nature, climate, and human rights driving positive impacts for the planet and people. She joined McDonald’s in 2017 as the Director of Global Supply Chain Human Rights and in this role led efforts to increase the company’s human rights performance by 171% on the leading corporate human rights benchmark. In 2021, Jessica served as the Director of Human Rights in Global Impact overseeing human rights strategy for the company, restaurants, and global supply chain. In this role, she led a team to deliver the first-ever global Human Rights Assessment and enterprise-wise human rights strategy for the System, establishing the Responsible Recruitment Principles applicable to all 40,000 restaurants and embedding human rights management into McDonald’s governance structure. In 2024, she served as the Interim Director of Climate & Nature and the Interim Director for Sustainability Strategy & Alignment in Global Impact.
From 2023-2025, Jessica served as the Co-Chair of the Consumer Goods Forum Human Rights Coalition, a CEO-led organization to help companies collaborate to secure customer trust and drive positive changes for people and the planet. She loves building community and served from 2020-2022 as the Co-Chair of McDonald’s Global Women Leadership Network leading strategy and programing for over 1,000 members in Chicago and was honored with a GWLN Leadership Award for creating and launching the first-ever women mentorship circles at McDonald’s. In 2023, she co-founded the McDonald’s Jewish Employee Resource Group, which is part of the Asian Pacific Middle East Employee Business Network.
Jessica began her career as an attorney and has also taught Sustainable Supply Chains and Human Rights courses at DePaul University’s business school. She holds an MBA from ESADE Business School, a JD from William Mitchell College of Law, a BA from the University of Michigan, and is a graduate of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Leading Women and Empowerment Program. When not working, she enjoys spending her time with her husband Josh and their two daughters Sophia and Eden, and playing tennis, traveling, and exploring the Chicago food scene.
