Worldly has named Kathryn Smith as Vice President, Human Rights Risk Solutions, leading its social compliance and human rights strategy.
Smith most recently served as Senior Director, Responsible Sourcing – Human Rights & Environment at Walmart, where she spent nearly 12 years building and running programs that set the standard for large-scale supply chain accountability.
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The company points out that running a responsible global supply chain has always required good data — on the factories a company works with, the labour practices behind the products it sells, and the social risks embedded in every tier of its sourcing network. For most companies, that data has been scattered, inconsistent, and hard to act on. Sourcing directors, supply chain risk managers, and buying teams have had to make high-stakes decisions without the reliable social insights their environmental counterparts have long had. As sweeping new regulations, including the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and expanding forced labour import restrictions, raise the stakes further, the gap between companies with decision-ready social data and those without it is becoming more consequential.
Worldly aims to close that gap through centralising and standardising social data across the supply chain, giving sourcing, buying, and sustainability teams the decision-ready insights they need to manage risk, meet regulatory requirements, and source with confidence.
In her new role, Smith will have end-to-end responsibility for Worldly’s social compliance offerings, including the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module — part of Cascale’s Higg Index, developed in collaboration with Worldly — social capabilities within Worldly Axion, and the platform’s expansion into solutions built specifically for sourcing and buying teams.
A key pillar of this work is continuing to develop the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module in strategic alignment with the Social & Labor Convergence Program’s Converged Assessment Framework, reinforcing Worldly’s commitment to industry standardization and helping brands and suppliers reduce audit fatigue by replacing duplicative assessments with a single, recognized standard.
“Sourcing and buying teams have been making important purchasing decisions with fragmented, limited social data for too long,” said Smith. “The current and upcoming regulations are forcing the issue, but the companies that get ahead of this will have a real competitive advantage, not just a compliance checkbox. Worldly is uniquely positioned to bring environmental and social data together in a way that actually works for the people who make buying decisions.”
Kevin Vranes, Chief Product Officer at Worldly, added: “Kathryn has spent her career sitting exactly where our customers sit — accountable for outcomes across sourcing, risk, and human rights at one of the world’s most complex supply chain operations. That experience will directly shape how we build social solutions that work for the teams who need them most.”
