For global reach, General Mills redesigns organizational structure
Jeff Harmening, president and COO, has assumed global operations responsibilities reporting to chairman and CEO Ken Powell. As part of this new structure, the company is eliminating the position of international chief operating officer. Effective Jan. 1, 2017, four business groups will report directly to Harmening, each led by a Group President:
- North America Retail (U.S. Retail & Canada) led by Jon Nudi
- Europe & Australia led by Bethany Quam
- Asia & Latin America led by Christina Law
- Convenience Stores & Foodservice led by Shawn O'Grady
"As we wrap up our 150th anniversary year, we are ready to take the next step in our journey to truly operate as a global company and fully resource our best ideas to drive growth," said Ken Powell, Chairman and CEO.
The company is also aligning its current dairy strategic brand unit, which includes Yoplait and Häagen-Dazs, to this new global organization structure. The business unit, based in France and led by Olivier Faujour, will report to Harmening and will work with the group presidents to explore further opportunities to drive growth and innovation for the dairy platform globally.
The company will also rehash its strategic revenue management (SRM), e-commerce, and marketing innovation over the next several months. The new global revenue development group, which includes SRM and e-commerce, will report to Shawn O'Grady, group president convenience stores & foodservice and SVP, global revenue development. The company intends to name a new global CMO/marketing innovation leader, who will report to Harmening.
Global operations functions including Innovation, technology & quality (ITQ) and supply chain will continue to report to Harmening. Global corporate functions including finance, legal, human resources, and external relations will continue to report to Powell.
The new structure is expected to impact approximately 400-600 positions world-wide, subject to consultation with employees and employee representatives in locations as required.
"We continue to prioritize both growth and returns," said Jeff Harmening, president and chief operating officer. "The structural changes announced today will help us unlock global growth opportunities and go after them by efficiently restructuring our teams and processes. In addition, the capability investments and savings generated by these changes will help us deliver our fiscal 2018 adjusted operating profit margin target of 20 percent."
