Katy Chen Biography and Net Worth

Katy Chen is a dynamo.  

She rose to her executive role as managing director of Kimberly-Clark China only 12 years after starting as the senior product manager charged with launching Huggies® Silver Pants in China. 

Chen feels women at Kimberly-Clark have excellent opportunities to excel in their careers just as she did. 

"Kimberly-Clark is the best culture I have ever experienced," Chen enthuses. "It provides all necessary sponsorship for women. Having worked at Kimberly-Clark for more than 12 years, I actually never think about my gender for even a minute." 

Chen embodies Kimberly-Clark's values of caring, acting, and owning responsibility. 

"My job is to ask myself every day if there is anything in the way of our team," she reflects. "The Kimberly-Clark team in China has the DNA of doing things in an agile way. We have a collective memory of winning together, putting the consumer at the center, moving fast, and playing to win."  

Chen worked for five years marketing Kimberly-Clark baby and child care products and was instrumental in Huggies® fast growth as it battled for ever-greater share of the premium diaper market. 

Next, Chen led marketing for the successful reintroduction of Kotex® in China. 

In 2019, Chen was promoted to lead marketing for the baby and childcare category, where Huggies® was facing increased competition. 

She quickly boosted the brand, lifting Huggies® to market share leader in 2020 with the top consumer-satisfaction rate in e-commerce. 

"I am grateful for all the opportunities I have been given," Chen says. "In 2021, I took the China managing director role and started exploring my new journey of building strong business with our team." 

Her job isn't easy. The Chinese market is "super volatile and disruptive," she says, and she's needs to stay ahead of the competition. 

"In order to deliver that, we need to build an organizational capability and strategy that enables our talents to reflect market dynamics with no time lag," she says. 

Chen's abilities to listen to others, collaborate, and tenaciously stay the course are essential to her success. 

"These skills help us to stay connected, confront reality, and enable us to do our best to seek the correct strategy," she says. 

Her alignment with Kimberly-Clark's purpose of Better Care for a Better World also strengthens her managerial capacity. 

"Our effort is to win a big 'Wow' from consumers with the products and services we provide," she asserts. "We should be obsessed with understanding the consumer's needs and providing products that can serve them above and beyond. We need to be so good that they'll come back for more – and bring their friends." 

Clearly, Chen feels accountable for her actions and embraces Kimberly-Clark's philosophy to win together by moving fast. It's something she learned from her parents as she grew up in a rapidly developing nation. 

"My parents are both from humble origins and worked hard throughout their lives to create a loving home for their child," Chen says. "I learned from their actions that we should stay accountable for the ones we care about, and we can create our future through our own efforts. After all these years, the only change for me is that the ones I care about extend to my own family, my team, our customers, and our communities. It feels rewarding when you leave things better than where you found them, and Kimberly-Clark is fertile soil for accomplishment and goodwill."