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Another Hershey head rolls: Hernquist resigns

FoodProcessing.com
12/03/2007

Thomas Hernquist, senior vice president and global chief growth officer, resigned from the Hershey's on Richard Lenny’s last day as CEO, Nov. 30.

The effective date of Hernquist’s resignation is Dec. 31, the same day Lenny steps down as chairman. Hernquist joined Hershey in 2003 as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, in which he was charged with Hershey's core brands and confectionery portfolio in North America. Prior to his current position, Hernquist was senior vice president and president of U.S. Confectionery.

Hernquist came from Fortune Brands, where he was a senior VP-global marketing of the company's distilled spirits business. Earlier, he held similar posts at Nabisco's Biscuit Division and CPC International’s Entenmann's unit. He began his marketing career at Frito-Lay.

On Nov. 11, eight of Hershey’s 10 directors resigned, six of them asked to do so by the controlling Hershey Trust. A few weeks earlier, Gregg Tanner, senior vice president of global operations, and Christopher Baldwin, senior vice president and president of Hershey’s North American Commercial Group, departed.

David West replaced Lenny as CEO on Dec. 1, and Kenneth Wolfe, a former Hershey CEO, was named a director and he will replace Lenny as chairman on Jan. 1.