Hershey Hires Mitchell Arends as Chief Supply Chain Officer

Hershey Co. hired Mitchell Arends away from Utz Brands to be chief supply chain officer, starting June 22. Arends succeeds Jason Reiman, who is retiring after 30 years with the company. Reiman will remain through April 2027 to ensure a smooth transition. 

Arends brings more than 25 years of supply chain leadership in consumer-packaged goods. At Utz, he was an executive vice president, principal operating officer and chief integrated supply chain officer, managing the company’s supply chain, R&D, transformation and direct store delivery (DSD) operations.

Prior to Utz, he was chief supply chain officer of North America at Kraft Heinz, responsible for a $22 billion supply chain across manufacturing, logistics, planning and procurement.

Arends will have end-to-end accountability for Hershey's integrated supply chain — manufacturing, procurement, logistics and planning. He will focus on accelerating digital integration and automation and advancing insights-driven planning across the network.

Reiman joined Hershey as an intern and built a career spanning the full breadth of the supply chain. His significant contributions include bringing core capacity and expanded confection capabilities in-house, standing up two fully digitally integrated manufacturing facilities and building the salty snacks network that is now 80% insourced.