Growth-oriented: Matt Price of Lactalis Canada

When it comes to HR, it’s not that the function has evolved since Matt Price began has career – it’s gone through “a revolution,” he says.

“When I started, people didn't really seem to understand or have a shared understanding of what the actual function was responsible for. And a large part of that is your role in an organization and how you experience it.”

The way that an employee experiences HR compared to a team leader or functional leader is very different, says Price, CHRO at Lactalis Canada.

“And then the CEO of an organization, the expectations that a CEO has on its HR function range from … cost management to employee services to talent management and engagement, learning and development, governance and compliance,” he says.

“And I just think that it's such a massive scale and it's such a big and critical function that it's really moved from an administrative function… [to] breaking into business partnering to now a highly strategic function that is really at the centre of how many organizations operate today.”

Interest in people starts early

Price’s passion for HR is evident today, but it began years ago after he attained a Bachelor of Management in Economics at the University of Guelph.

“I was fundamentally quite interested in what and how people were learning, how they were acquiring skills, how they were building and demonstrating behaviours that made them really effective, and how they were adapting and skilling up when it came to new technologies.

“So that was one key reason that really moved me into the HR space.”

Price says he was also keen to do meaningful work that impacted people’s lives.

“While there's lots of aspects of organizations and lots of roles in which to do that… I was looking for work that would really make a difference in those critical moments that matter with people.”

Lastly, he was keen to work in business versus not-for-profit or government, so organizations that are creating value and growth-oriented, “where there's investment and where there's energy and where there's a real sense of possibility – that to me was kind of the place that really captured my imagination and the art of the possible.”

HR leadership at Lactalis, Unilever, Mars

Following that theme, Price is now leading the HR strategy at the 4,000-employee Lactalis Canada. His responsibilities include corporate human resources, industrial relations, organizational development, talent acquisition and total rewards.  

Lactalis is the dairy company behind iconic brands such as Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond, Balderson, Astro and Lactantia and is part of France-based Lactalis Group.

Price joined the company in May 2025, having previously worked in senior HR roles at Unilever, Mars and GSK. 

At Unilever, he learned about the importance of innovation and creativity, he says, along with showing “what ‘world class’ actually looks like, especially through a pandemic.”

As for Mars, that taught Price about the importance of leadership, dedication to people, and “the power of putting compelling principles to work in an organization to create value,” he says.

“Both organizations know the incredibly important roles that they each play in society, and they actively pursue them.”

Leading HR at growth-oriented company

But in joining Lactalis Canada, Price says it was time for a change.

“I was really looking for an opportunity to take all of those experiences and apply them in a highly growth-oriented company that was transforming for the better, Lactalis. It grounds itself on three distinct principles: simplicity, ambition, and commitment, and those really resonated with me – and the growth agenda that they're on, not only to play at a Canada level, but also to play a role in ensuring global growth of the company going forward.”

While the company’s global headquarters are based in France, the Canadian company has a lot of autonomy, says Price.

“Unlike a lot of other organizations that either are North American organized or globally organized and centrally led, Lactalis is quite decentralized… we do have a lot of autonomy here in Canada to do what's right for the Canada business and for Canada consumers and customers,” he says.

“There's a real desire to ensure that we have a united organizational culture grounded in our values, but… we are hyper-focused on the local reality and our local market conditions.”

Investing in people at Lactalis

Overall, there are several key areas of focus for the company’s HR in Canada at this point, says Price.

“One is we absolutely aspire to be a talent powerhouse… we significantly invest behind our people. In fact, we have sustainably invested one per cent of our total labour costs into learning and development for our people, and we'll continue to do that in the years ahead.”

There are also formal programs that are very functionally focused, he says, such as sales academies and industrial academies for future leaders.

“There's a lot of investment across the broad spectrum of our business to really ensure that we're constantly upskilling and reskilling our people to meet the demands of today and tomorrow… we’re not standing still, it’s part of our ambitious DNA.”

In addition, Lactalis Canada is constantly modifying and evolving its processes, and investing in technology, says Price, and employee feedback is a key component.

“We have formal programs to really crowdsource and harness or marshal a lot of the ingenuity that exists in our organization,” he says, citing two formal programs, Lactalis Canada Next and Next Ventures, where they tap into internal crowdsourcing to explore ideas and bring to market new products and processes inside the organization and potentially new technologies.

“People are excited to share ideas and brainstorm… it's part of our organizational culture… It's one of the key things that we really look for as we're bringing people into the organization.”

And, finally, listening to employees, whether it’s through biannual surveys or action committees responding to the feedback to improve the employee experience.

“Without continuous feedback loops, we miss an opportunity to hear about barriers or even anticipate barriers.”