General Mills: names company veteran to newly created President and COO position

Minneapolis / MN. (gm) General Mills Inc. announced the appointment of Jeffrey L. Harmening as President, Chief Operating Officer of General Mills effective July 01, 2016. Harmening will be responsible for all company operations including U.S. Retail, International, Convenience Stores and Foodservice segments, Sales and Channel Development, as well as Global Supply Chain, and Innovation, Technology and Quality functions. Harmening will continue to report to Chairman and CEO Ken Powell. Harmening’s successor will be announced at a later date.

Harmening, age 49, is a 22-year veteran of General Mills and has served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the 10 billion USD U.S. Retail segment since May 2014. Previously, Harmening was Chief Executive Officer of Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW) – the company’s joint venture with Nestlé headquartered in Switzerland. In that role, he was responsible for the nearly 2 billion USD global cereal business that distributes products to more than 130 countries outside of North America. Harmening has also served as President of the General Mills cereal operating unit and in various U.S. marketing roles.

«Jeff has a wide range of experience in both the U.S. and internationally. The timing is right to bring together overall operations under one leader. Jeff is well positioned to accelerate our global Consumer First strategy to drive both growth and profitability», said Powell.

Harmening holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and an MBA from Harvard University. He serves as a trustee for DePauw University and is on the board of Partners in Food Solutions, a global non-profit organization that brings together business and technical expertise from global food companies to help fight hunger in Africa. Harmening also serves on the board of CPW.