General Mills Announces New Organizational Structure to Maximize Global Scale

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- General Mills GIS today announced a new global organizational structure that will support growth and drive greater efficiency by streamlining the company's leadership, maximizing global scale, and increasing operational agility. 

As previously announced, Jeff Harmening, President and Chief Operating Officer 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 150^th 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.

In addition to the four business groups, the company is aligning its current dairy strategic brand unit (SBU) to this new global organization structure.  The Dairy SBU, 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. General Mills holds No. 2 positions worldwide in both yogurt and super-premium ice cream, with brands including Yoplait and Häagen-Dazs. 

The company will also enhance its growth capabilities in several areas including strategic revenue management (SRM), e-commerce, and marketing innovation, and intends to augment its current talent with external expertise in these areas 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."

About General Mills

General Mills is a leading global food company that serves the world by making food people love.  Its brands include Cheerios, Annie's, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Fiber One, Häagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more.  Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2016 consolidated net sales of US $16.6 billion, as well as another US $1.0 billion from its proportionate share of joint-venture net sales.

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SOURCE General Mills