Hershey has held talks with former Cadbury CEO Todd Stitzer about taking a seat on the board, according to Bloomberg. Interim chief John Bilbrey is the frontrunner for the CEO position, though Stitzer also is being considered for the role.

Hershey plans to name a permanent head before the end of June. One quoted possibility would be for Stitzer to join the Hershey board and mentor Bilbrey, who took the interim role after David West left to head Del Monte Foods.

“The board is committed to ...

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Kraft Foods has announced the appointment of a new executive vice-president of strategy at the company. Sam Rovit will take on the role, moving from his post at consulting firm Bain & Co, at which he was in charge of various divisions, including mergers and global agribusiness. Discussing Mr Rovit's appointment, Kraft chief executive officer Irene Rosenfeld said: " His deep understanding of corporate, customer, category and channel strategies will be instrumental in Kraft's delivery of top-ti...
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Nestle has appointed Mr. Chris Johnson as executive vice president for its Americas division.

Johnson, who has been in charge of Nestle Japan since 2007, will take over from Luis Cantarell, who will take up the role of president and CEO of the firm's health sciences division from 1 January 2011.

Johnson started his career with Nestle in 1983 as a marketing trainee in the US before a move to Japan in 1991. He was made senior area manager for the Asian region of Nestlé Waters in Paris from 1...

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A labour dispute in the Finnish food industry that caused 12,000 workers strike last week has escalated with a bigger strike being mooted for this week. The strike is part of the negotiation process for the renewal of collective bargaining agreements between the Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation (ETL) and the Finnish Food Workers’ Union (SEL).

A proposed new working time model from the ETL which regulates the overtime for weekend work is  the main conflict issue between the ...

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Kraft Foods Europe has appointed Pascal Bourdin as the new president of its biscuits division.

He succeeds François Barbier who has left the group.

Bourdin, 48, was previously the president of Kraft Foods Europe’s chocolate division and prior to that served as vice-president and general manager of its cheese unit.

Tamara Minick-Scokalo will replace Bourdin as head of the chocolate division.
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Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever has appointed former Nestle executive Eugenio Minvielle to oversee the company's North American businesses. Mr. Minvielle who served as president and CEO of Nestle's businesses in France, Mexico and Venezuela, will join Unilever as executive vice president, North America. Mr.Minvielle will be responsible for Unilever’s US$10bn operations in the US, Canada and the Caribbean. He will report to Dave Lewis who was recently appointed to replace Michael P...
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Former Cadbury plc executive Jim Chambers has been named president of confectionery and general manager for Kraft Foods, Inc.’s Immediate Consumption Channel, North America.

He will oversee such Cadbury brands as Trident gum and Halls. According to the company, Chambers will be focused on growing the newly acquired gum business in the U.S., especially in the convenience channel.

Chambers, 52, was previously president for Cadbury North America and now reports to Kraft’s president of Nort...

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Cadbury Turkey announced today a management change. Mr. Ahjaz Ahmad Khan who  is the managing director of Cadbury in Turkey, leaves as of end of February. He will be replaced with Mr. Konstantinos (Kostas) Vlachos who  currently holds assistant general manager post in Cadbury PLC in charge of European Gum Cathegory. Mr. Vlachos also served as the marketing director in Turkey after  acquision of Kent by Cadbury.


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