J. M. Smucker restructures leadership team

The J. M. Smucker Co. has announced an evolution of its executive leadership structure and team reporting to Mark Smucker, president and CEO. The new executive leadership structure, effective Nov. 25, 2019, is designed to sharpen the company’s focus on strategic initiatives, enhance accountability for business delivery, streamline decision making, and enable greater agility to ensure delivery of strategic and financial priorities.

The company has announced the establishment of a chief operating officer role and commenced a search process, inclusive of external candidates. This position will provide strategic and operational oversight of the company’s U.S. Pet Food and Pet Snacks, Coffee, Consumer Foods, and North American Away-From-Home businesses, as well as its Operations and Supply Chain functions.

The company also announced that Mark Belgya, vice chair and CFO, will retire Sept. 1, 2020, and Tucker Marshall, vice president of finance, will succeed Belgya as CFO following the completion of the current fiscal year on May 1, 2020.

The new leadership structure is, as follows:

• Geoff Tanner, senior vice president, Growth and Consumer Engagement, has been elected chief marketing and commercial officer.
• Jill Penrose, senior vice president, Human Resources and Corporate Communications, has been elected chief people and administrative officer.
• Amy Held, senior vice president, Corporate Strategy, M&A, and International, has been elected chief strategy and international officer.
• Jeannette Knudsen, senior vice president, General Counsel and secretary, has been elected chief legal and compliance officer and secretary.
• Tucker Marshall, vice president, Finance, has been promoted to senior vice president and deputy CFO and elected an officer of the company, effective Nov. 25, 2019. He will succeed Belgya as CFO May 1, 2020, following the completion of the current fiscal year.
• Lindsey Tomaszewski, vice president, Talent and Organization Excellence, has been promoted to senior vice president, Human Resources, and an elected officer of the company, effective Nov. 25, 2019.

As part of these executive leadership changes, Dave Lemmon, president, Pet Food and Pet Snacks, and Kevin Jackson, senior vice president, U.S. Retail Sales and Away-From-Home, are no longer in leadership roles and will officially be exiting the company in early December. The company has initiated a search process for both roles, inclusive of external candidates. The Pet Food and Pet Snacks business will be led on an interim basis by Rob Ferguson, senior vice president, Pet Food and Pet Snacks (Interim) and Supply Chain.

“This planned evolution of our leadership structure is an important step to ensure we are positioned to meet and exceed the needs of today and tomorrow’s retailers and consumers,” said Smucker. “The board of directors and I are confident the changes we are making will strengthen our company and ensure each of our 7,591 talented employees are empowered and focused on delivering our strategy, which creates value for our shareholders and all constituents.”

Press release