The J. M. Smucker Co. has announced today the formation of a new strategic business area—Sweet Baked Snacks—and the subsequent officer election of Dan O'Leary to the position of senior vice president and general manager for Sweet Baked Snacks and Pet, effective immediately. The company has also announced a series of leadership changes to support the business following the closing of its acquisition of Hostess Brands.

The company has shared an updated strategic business area structure to support the expanded family of brands and to continue to advance its strategy. The new structure includes strategic businesses overseen by board-elected general managers, all reporting to COO John Brase.

• Sweet Baked Snacks, inclusive of the Hostess and Voortman brands, will be managed by O'Leary.
• Frozen Handheld and Spreads (formerly Consumer Foods), inclusive of the Smucker's Uncrustables, Jif, and Smucker's brands, will continue to be managed by Rebecca Scheidler, senior vice president and general manager for Frozen Handheld and Spreads.
• Coffee, inclusive of the Folgers, Dunkin' and Café Bustelo brands, will be managed by Rob Ferguson, senior vice president and general manager, for coffee and procurement; in his new role, Ferguson will lead both the coffee business and the company's procurement management across all categories.
• Pet, inclusive of the dog snacks and cat food businesses (anchored by the Milk-Bone and Meow Mix brands) will be managed by O'Leary.
• Away From Home and International, inclusive of the company's Canadian business, will continue to be managed by Tim Wayne, senior vice president for Away From Home and International.

"We are excited to share this updated strategic business area structure and the leaders who will drive the continued momentum of our leading brands in these growing categories," says Mark Smucker, chair of the board, president, and CEO. "With this newly created structure, we are better positioned to take advantage of synergies, which will allow us to leverage the best-in-class expertise we have in our organization around innovation, marketing, commercial activation and supply chain management."

O'Leary assumed his new role following his time serving as chief growth officer at Hostess Brands, Inc., where he oversaw the full family of brands and drove profitable growth in the competitive snacking market. O'Leary brings more than 20 years of experience across marketing, brand building, innovation, M&A and growth strategy. Before joining Hostess in 2021, O'Leary led Tyson Foods' retail prepared foods group as senior vice president and general manager and held leadership roles at Kraft Foods and Mizkan America.

Ferguson’s new role follows his leadership of the company's pet business since 2020. His leadership reportedly has been instrumental in the reshape of the pet food and pet snacks business, including continued growth for the leading dog snacks brand in the market, Milk-Bone, and establishing a leadership position with its Meow Mix cat food brand. Ferguson joined the Company in 2015 via the company's acquisition of Big Heart Pet Brands, where he held leadership roles in strategy, operations, supply chain and procurement, prior to his election as Smucker senior vice president for supply chain. 

Following the successful implementation of the Transformation Office over the past year, the company has established an integrated portfolio management organization, inclusive of transformation initiatives.

With this decision, the company will align Strategy, Finance, Transformation and Information Services under the leadership of Tucker Marshall, CFO. This updated alignment reportedly will enable the close connection between the company's margin-management objectives and its multiple planning processes with short- and long-term horizons.

Reporting to Marshall will be Bryan Hutson, senior vice president of information services, transformation, and portfolio operations. Today, Hutson oversees the company's technology strategy for all aspects of the organization and plays a key role in significant portfolio management initiatives. His experience includes more than 20 years of leadership roles in information services, corporate development and supply chain. Hutson's new role will build upon his current responsibilities to include advancing the Company's margin enhancement efforts and enterprise-wide continuous improvement strategies to ensure a pipeline of productivity initiatives and profit growth opportunities.

"We will continue to advance the great work that has been done to establish our Transformation vision and structure through this evolved organization, which will enable greater cohesion among leadership across the business," says Marshall. "In this next phase of our journey, we will further integrate Transformation with the broader strategy of the company while continuing to embed the vision across all planning processes. I look forward to supporting our continued progress, which will help us deliver on our commitment to continuous improvement and creating greater organizational flexibility and agility."

Related: Hostess to be acquired by J.M. Smucker Co.