Kraft Foods Inc. announced today that Sam Rovit will join the company as executive vice president, strategy beginning Jan. 29. Rovit, 52, will be responsible for collaborating closely with the business and functions to implement the company's strategic priorities for growth and cost leadership as well as accelerating the performance of the current portfolio and channels. He succeeds Michael Osanloo, who is now president of Kraft Foods' grocery business in North America. Rovit will report to Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld and be a member of the company's executive team.
"Sam has impressive strategic and operational experience in the consumer packaged goods industry as CEO of Swift and as a senior partner in a blue-chip consulting firm," said Rosenfeld in a prepared statement. "His deep understanding of corporate, customer, category and channel strategies will be instrumental in Kraft's delivery of top-tier financial results."
Rovit joins Kraft Foods from Bain & Co. with more than 20 years of global growth and cost leadership strategy experience across a variety of industries. Most notably, at various times he successfully led Bain's global agribusiness, global mergers and acquisitions and corporate renewal practices. He is author of numerous articles on M&A, and co-author of Mastering the Merger: Four Critical Decisions that Make or Break a Deal, Harvard Business School Press, Nov. 2004.
As CEO of Swift & Co. from 2005 to 2007, he led the turnaround of that business, taking it from last to best in service and improving all its controllable components during the worst market conditions in 40 years.
