Hershey CEO Bilbrey to retire
John Bilbrey, chairman, president and CEO of The Hershey Company, has announced his intention to retire after 13 years at the confectionery giant.
With effect from 1 July 2017, Bilbrey will step down as president and CEO, but continue as non-executive chairman of Hershey’s board. He said the move will allow him to spend more time with his family.
As part of the confectionery giant’s succession planning process, the board has appointed a special committee to find a successor. The committee is led by Pamela Arway, chair of the governance committee with assistance from executive search firm Egon Zehnder.
Hershey also reaffirmed its full-year 2016 outlook outlined in the company’s second quarter 2016 earnings announcement.
Earlier this year, the company revealed it had “unanimously rejected” a takeover bid from snack conglomerate Mondelēz International. The deal would have merged brands including Hershey, Reese’s, Brookside, Cadbury, Oreo and Trident under one roof.
It would have also reinstated Mondelēz as the largest confectionery player in the world by some margin, with around 18% market share, as well as the second largest packaged food manufacturer in the world, with 3% share of total sales, according to Jack Skelly, confectionery analyst at Euromonitor International.
In August, however, Mondelēz abandoned the takeover bid, but said it will continue to execute plans to deliver sustainable growth.
