Northfield, Il., USA - December 19, 2014, Northfield, Il., USA - Kraft Foods Group, Inc. announced that it has named John Cahill, chairman of the board of directors, to the position of chairman and chief executive officer of Kraft Foods.
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Mr. Cahill serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kraft Foods Group. He joined Kraft on Jan. 2, 2012 as Executive Chairman Designate, North American Grocery, and became Executive Chairman at spin-off. He transitioned to a non-executive Chairman role on March 8, 2014.
He spent nine years with The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc., a beverage manufacturing company, most recently as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 2003 to 2006 and Executive Chairman until 2007.
He previously spent nine years with PepsiCo, Inc., a food and beverage company, in a variety of leadership positions. He is lead independent director of American Airlines Group, Inc. and a director of Colgate-Palmolive Company.
Mr. Cahill earned a bachelor's degree in economics and an MBA from Harvard University.
He will succeed Tony Vernon, who has informed the board of his intention to retire as CEO on December 27, 2014, the last day of the company's fiscal year. Mr. Vernon will stay on as a senior advisor through March 31, 2015 and as a director until the company's next annual meeting in 2015.
Mr. Vernon serves as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Kraft Foods Group. Until October 2012, he was Kraft's Executive Vice President and President, Kraft Foods North America.
Prior to joining Kraft in August 2009, Mr. Vernon spent 23 years with Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company, in a variety of leadership positions, most recently serving as Company Group Chairman of DePuy Inc., an orthopedics company and subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, from 2004 to 2005. ■
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