Post CEO Vitale Taking Time off To Battle Cancer

Nov. 17, 2023

Robert Vitale explains his unexpected departure during a financial conference call with analysts.

Post Holdings CEO Robert Vitale told analysts this morning it was a cancer diagnosis that made him take an “unexpected” medical leave on Nov. 6. The surgery is over and he said he feels great, but was told the radiation and chemotherapy treatment he’s starting will “wipe out my energy levels for a period of time.”

Hence, Jeff Zadoks, executive vice president and COO, continues as acting CEO.

Vitale, 57, briefly joined the company’s fourth-quarter and full fiscal year conference call with analysts Nov. 17. “Recently, the doctors discovered and removed a malignant tumor,” he said, sounding strong. He joined the company as CFO in 2011 and became CEO in 2014.

Post’s finances were just OK for its fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30. Full year sales were $6.991 billion, an increase of $1.140 billion over FY22, but included $680 million in sales from the acquisition of pet foods from J.M. Smucker Co. Net earnings from continuing operations were $301 million, less than half the $735 million earned in the prior year.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.