New Hershey CEO Michele Buck Names Exec Team
The Hershey Co.’s newly appointed President and CEO Michele Buck, who begins her duties on March 1, has named the new executive team that will lead the organization into the next phase of its growth and continued success.
Buck said her new team balances continuity in key positions through exceptional leaders from within the company and world-class talent from outside of Hershey.
“Hershey is an innovative snacking leader with its number-one market share in U.S. confection and increasing breadth across U.S. snacking,” noted Buck. “I’m extremely confident in the individuals who will lead our organization as we delight our customers and consumers with innovation and news in the marketplace and strive to deliver leading sales growth and margins across the food industry. This is a great team, with a range of experiences, expertise and backgrounds to accelerate our innovation, execute with excellence, instill a commercial mindset in all we do, and inspire our remarkable employees to achieve our goals.”
The following eight leaders will comprise Hershey’s new executive leadership team, effective March 1:
Todd Tillemans, President, U.S. – Tillemans will join Hershey on April 3 to lead the company's flagship U.S. business including core confection, its expanding portfolio across snacking, and its sales and go-to-market teams. Tillemans joins the company from Unilever, where he worked for more than 23 years. He has held multiple leadership positions, including leading Unilever’s skin care business in Europe and Russia, its personal care business in the United States, and most recently serving as president, customer development, U.S.
Steven Schiller, President, International – Schiller, currently president, China and Asia, will become president, international. He will continue to oversee the China and Asia markets and will assume responsibility for the Americas region, India and Europe, Middle-East, and Africa.
Terry O’Day, SVP, Chief Product Supply and Technology Officer – O’Day, currently chief supply chain officer, will continue to oversee the company's supply chain organization and will assume responsibility for Hershey’s productivity, information technology and enterprise connectivity initiatives.
In connection with these announcements, Chief Knowledge and Technology Officer Waheed Zaman will retire from the company effective March 31.
The company has undertaken a search for a chief growth officer, who will lead Hershey’s insights and analytics, strategy, marketing excellence functions, innovation, research and development, mergers and acquisitions and The Hershey Experience. The company has identified an external candidate who is expected to join the team this spring.
Continuing in their roles are:
- SVP and Chief Financial Officer Patricia Little
- SVP, General Counsel and Secretary Leslie Turner
- SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer Kevin Walling
- SVP and Chief Administrative Officer Mike Wege
“These appointments reaffirm our commitment to creating opportunities for remarkable people to grow within the company and to attracting world-class talent from outside of Hershey,” said Buck, adding: “On behalf of the board of directors and management, I would like to thank Waheed Zaman for his work over the past four years to advance our technology, data and analytics capabilities.”