Campbell Reorganizes Operations And Fills New Position

Compiled ByGina Protopapa Campbell Soup Co. announced the reorganization of its North American operations into two separate business units, North American Soup and North American Beverages and Sauces. The realignment places all of Campbell's soup businesses in North America, including retail, foodservice, and away from home ventures, in one organization. In addition, Campbell also announced the appointment of M. Carl Johnson III, as senior vice president-chief strategy officer, a newly created position. Johnson, formerly executive vice president of Kraft Foods, NA, a unit of Philip Morris Cos., will report directly to Campbell President and CEO Douglas R. Conant. Certain functional responsibilities, like supply chain, sales, marketing services, finance, information systems, and human resources, formerly handled by Campbell's single North America division, will shift to a newly formed corporate matrix organization as part of the realignment. Conant, in announcing the new business structure, said, "Our No. 1 priority is to revitalize our North American Soup business. We have made important progress this year with significant improvement in consumer purchases. This new organizational alignment is designed to sharpen our focus on consumer marketing and competitive strategies for soup." Johnson, who led the $2.5 billion New Meals Division at Kraft, will have direct operating responsibility for corporate strategy, business development, and information.