Hiring of Domenic Borelli Lastest Executive Churn at Hormel
Hormel Foods Corp. continues a major revamp of its executive ranks, this time hiring Domenic Borrelli away from Danone North America to become executive vice president of retail, effective Feb. 23. The company also announced two upcoming retirements, the latest in a string of those.
Two long-tenured leaders are retiring: Mark Morey, vice president of operations for fresh pork, already has retired, and Paul Peil, vice president of marketing for fresh and ready meats will leave this month. Their duties are being transitioned to other leaders within the organization.
PJ Connor, group vice president of retail sales, announced he will retire next spring after 30 years with the company. When his retirement was announced in October, Natosha Walsh was named his replacement as group VP of retail sales. She will now report to Borrelli.
The retail business unit includes many of Hormel’s most recognized consumer brands and represents one of its largest growth engines, according to the company.
At Danone, Borrelli was president and general manager of its beverage creations business, which included coffee creamers, ready-to-drink coffee and premium waters. He has more than 25 years of experience across the food and beverage industry.
Earlier in his career, Borrelli held multiple leadership positions at Kraft Foods, including vice president of marketing for the U.S. coffee division and vice president roles across grocery and beverages. He later served as vice president of marketing and general manager-North America sustainable meat at Maple Leaf Foods.
Hormel just closed out a difficult fiscal 2025 (ending Oct. 26, 2025). After a fourth-quarter loss of $56 million, earnings for the year -- $478 million -- were at their lowest in at least 13 years. Sales crept up 1.6% to $12 billion, but the cost of products sold grew by 32%.
In November, Hormel announced a corporate restructuring that should result in the reduction of approximately 250 corporate and sales positions, hopefully through a voluntary early retirement program. Longtime chairman and CEO James Snee presumably retired Oct. 31, (there was no formal announcement) with former chairman and CEO Jeff Ettinger named CEO on an interim basis, while John Ghingo was elevated to president.
Since then, Hormel has been restocking its executive suite. Jason Levine early this month was named to the newly created role of enterprise-wide chief marketing officer. CFO Jacinth Smiley left the company in October.
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.