Campbell’s names new COO and launches accelerator programme

Campbell’s has named Luca Mignini as the new chief operating officer of its core businesses, and has launched an accelerator programme to accelerate the growth of the packaged fresh foods category.

The appointment of Mignini follows the reorganisation of the company’s core businesses into a single entity, which includes its soup, ready meals and snacks portfolios.

This means Mignini will lead the company’s Global Biscuits and Snacks portfolio, the newly created Campbell’s snacks division, Campbell’s Meals and Beverages, the company’s US sales organisation and the company’s global product development group.

The move comes as Campbell’s seeks to simplify its business model to drive growth, following the $4.87 billion acquisition of Snyder’s-Lance and subsequent creation of the Campbell’s Snacks division.

Mignini said: “Creating a single organization across Campbell’s core businesses will make us more agile and lead to more effective portfolio management to ensure that resources are invested in the areas with the greatest growth potential.

“I am confident this simplified model will position these businesses for better performance going forward.

“My immediate focus is on maintaining momentum in our existing snacks portfolio, integrating Snyder’s-Lance and Pacific Foods, and stabilizing the US soup portfolio.”

Denise Morrison, Campbell’s president and CEO added: “The transformative Snyder’s-Lance acquisition served as a catalyst for us to re-examine how to best organize the company for increased emphasis on execution and profitable growth.

“This strategic reorganization—focused on our core, the integration of recent acquisitions, the Campbell Fresh turnaround and long-term growth—provides the right structure for us to optimize the value of our businesses today, while creating future-oriented capabilities.

“It will simplify our operations, improve our execution and enable us to allocate resources with a greater focus on profitable growth.”

Meanwhile, the company’s new accelerator programme will aim to develop new business models, incubate innovative small businesses identify products which will “shape the future of food”.

The accelerator will incorporate the Campbell Fresh division, as well as the company’s digital and e-Commerce unit.

Morrison added: “Campbell’s Accelerator unit is designed to drive growth and build critical capabilities with an agile and dynamic operating model that, over time, will expand to other parts of the company and become the way we work in the future.”