New CEOs at Five of the Top Food & Beverage Companies
Perhaps it’s symptomatic of something. In the past two months, five of the world’s largest food & beverage companies have named new CEOs; and two second-tier ones, too.
Tyson Foods said current CEO Donnie King will step down from his role on Oct. 4 and will hand the reins to Jeff Schomburger, who has been a member of Tyson’s board since 2016 and spent 35 years at Procter & Gamble. A week after that announcement, Wes Morris stepped out of his second retirement from Tyson to become the company’s chief operating officer, taking the place of Devin Cole.
Sean Connolly, who has been president/CEO of Conagra Brands for more than a decade, was replaced on June 1 by John Brase, former president and CEO of J.M. Smucker Co. Prior to his Smucker tenure, Brase spent some three decades at Procter & Gamble.
John Ghingo finally will be elevated to CEO of Hormel Foods in October, replacing Jeff Ettinger, who has served as interim CEO since July of last year. This all started in January 2025 when James Snee, chairman, president and CEO, announced he would retire at the end of that fiscal year (October 2025). At that time, Ettinger came out of retirement to be interim CEO while Ghingo was promoted from executive vice president of Hormel’s retail business unit to president, with heavy hints that he would be the next CEO.
Heineken NV, the world’s second-largest brewer, in June announced Rafael Oliveira as its new chairman and CEO, the first time the Dutch brewer has appointed an outsider to the top job. Previous CEO Dolf van den Brink unexpectedly announced his resignation in January, although he stayed on till May 31. As a result, Oliveira will not be taking over the still-unnamed global coffee powerhouse expected to be created by the merger of Keurig Dr Pepper with JDE Peet's – he was tabbed to be its CEO.
Ajinomoto Foods North America Inc. elevated Dave Gardner to president/CEO. Gardner had been chief supply chain officer since 2022. He replaces Hiroshi Kaho, who was promoted to executive officer and executive vice president-chief human resources officer for the Tokyo-based parent company, Ajinomoto Co. Inc.
Two smaller companies, but still on our Top 100 list, also named new CEOs.
Michael Axelrod took over as president/CEO of BellRing Brands on July 29, replacing Darcy Davenport, who had been CEO since the creation of BellRing, which was spun off from Post Holdings in 2019. She’s retiring. Axelrod joins BellRing from Snak King, where he was CEO.
Abigail Buckwalter left Nestlé Health Science U.S. to become president/CEO of Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., replacing Tom Hayes, who retired March 2. Buckwalter brings 20 years of global leadership experience across consumer-packaged goods and healthcare. She’s been at the Nestle unit since its inception 15 years ago and has been CEO for three years.
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.