Mark Clouse

Last updated
Mark Clouse
Born
Mark Alan Clouse

(1968-07-05) July 5, 1968 (age 56)
United States
Education United States Military Academy (BA)
TitlePresident and CEO, Campbell Soup Company
Term2019–present
Predecessor Denise Morrison
Children2

Mark A. Clouse (born July 5, 1968) is an American business executive in the food industry. Since January 22, 2019, he has been the president and CEO of Campbell Soup Company. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Pinnacle Foods from May 2016 through its acquisition by Conagra in late October 2018. He had previously spent two decades at Kraft Foods and its successor Mondelez International, where he held a variety of leadership positions.

Contents

Education and military career

Mark Alan Clouse [1] attended Northwest High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating in 1986. [2] [3] In 1990 he received a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Following graduation, he served in the United States Army as a helicopter pilot for six and a half years, [2] [3] rising to the rank of captain. [4] [5]

Business career

Kraft Foods

In 1996 Clouse chose to retire from the Army to pursue a business career, and joined Kraft Foods, where he began by holding various positions of increasing responsibility around the world. [4] [2] He was President of Kraft Foods Greater China from 2006 to 2008. [4] [2] [6] [7] [8] He was managing director of Kraft Foods Brazil from 2008 to 2010. [4] [2] [6] [7] [9]

In 2010 he was appointed Senior Vice President of the Biscuits Global Category, a position he held until 2011, [4] [10] at which time he became President of Kraft's Snacks and Confectionery business in North America. [4] [11] [12]

Mondelez International

In October 2012, Kraft Foods changed its name to Mondelez International as an international snack-food company, and spun off its North American grocery business as Kraft Foods Group. [13] [14] [15] [16] At that time Clouse became Executive Vice President and President of North America at Mondelez. [4] [6] [17] In late July 2014 he was appointed to the newly created position of Chief Growth Officer, where his responsibilities included accountability for all key areas of the company's growth strategy, and oversight of teams responsible for corporate strategy, global categories, global marketing, global sales, and research, development, and quality. [6] [18] [4] [19] [20] In January 2016 he was promoted to the newly created position of Chief Commercial Officer, with oversight of the execution of the company's commercial growth plan for all five geographic regions, and oversight of the global sales function. [21] [22] [23] [4]

Pinnacle Foods

Clouse was hired as CEO of the packaged-foods company Pinnacle Foods, effective May 2016, when then-CEO Robert Gamgort left to become CEO of Keurig Green Mountain. [24] He was also named to the company's board of directors at that time. [24] [4] Pinnacle's chairman cited his "strong operating background and proven track record of success, combined with his broad experience in both the North American market and more entrepreneurial developing market businesses". [23]

During his tenure as CEO, Pinnacle Foods' stock climbed 54%, in contrast to most other packaged-food companies, which lost share value. [25]

He successfully steered the company to being acquired by Conagra in 2018 for $10.9 billion. [26] In late October 2018, Conagra completed its acquisition of Pinnacle Foods; Pinnacle ceased to be a publicly traded company and became a subsidiary of Conagra, making Clouse's position as CEO redundant. [27] [25] [28]

Campbell Soup Company

In December 2018, Clouse was appointed president and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, effective January 22, 2019. [29] [7] [30] The hiring was the result of a seven-month search after former CEO Denise Morrison resigned abruptly in May 2018. [31] [32] [29] [30]

The chairman of Campbell's board of directors stated, "Mark's leadership as CEO of Pinnacle Foods shows a clear track record of delivering solid revenue and earnings growth and generating significant value for shareholders. ... Mark was the Board's top choice due to his success leading organizations through significant transformations and his history of delivering strong results." [7] Clouse was also the preferred choice of activist investor Third Point, which had recently settled with Campbell following an aggressive proxy fight. [26] [33] He was elected a member of the company's board of directors as well. [7] [30]

Personal life

Clouse met and married his wife Kathy in the 1990s while he was in the Army. [2] They live in New Jersey and have two sons. [34] [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nabisco</span> American snack company

Nabisco is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraft Foods</span> American food and beverage company

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July 2, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conagra Brands</span> American multinational consumer packaged goods holding company

Conagra Brands, Inc. is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, and food service establishments. Based on its 2021 revenue, the company ranked 331st on the 2022 Fortune 500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vlasic Pickles</span> Company specializing in pickled products

Vlasic is an American brand of pickles that is currently owned by Conagra Brands. Since its introduction in 1942, it has become one of the most popular pickle brands in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swanson</span> American food brand

Swanson is a brand of TV dinners, broths, and canned poultry made for the North American and Hong Kong markets. The former Swanson Company was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, where it developed improvements of the frozen dinner. The TV dinner business is currently owned by Conagra Brands, while the broth business is currently owned by the Campbell Soup Company. TV dinner products currently sold under the brand include Swanson's Classics TV dinners and pot pies, and the current broth lineup includes chicken broth and beef broth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinnacle Foods</span> Packaged foods company

Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraft Foods Inc.</span> Defunct American food and beverage company

Kraft Foods Inc. was a multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. Twelve of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, and Tang. Forty of its brands were at least a century old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Rosenfeld</span> American businesswoman (born 1953)

Irene Blecker Rosenfeld is an American businesswoman who was the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mondelēz International. Rosenfeld's career began at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, a New York City advertising agency. She later joined General Foods consumer research, and then led Frito-Lay as CEO and chairwoman.

W. Anthony Vernon is a business executive who was the first chief executive officer of Kraft Foods after it was spun off from the Mondelēz International in 2012. Prior to his time at Kraft, he had a 23-year career at Johnson & Johnson and spent three years with Ripplewood Holdings. When he took on this position his salary increased to $1m per annum. Vernon’s overall compensation was $9.19 million for 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gardein</span> Line of foods by Conagra Brands

Gardein is a line of meat-free foods produced by Conagra Brands. In 2003, the company was founded by Yves Potvin, who remained as the CEO of Gardein until 2016. In November 2014, Pinnacle Foods purchased Gardein for $154 million. Pinnacle was acquired by Conagra in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campbell Soup Company</span> American food manufacturer

The Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to become one of the largest processed food companies in the United States with a wide variety of products under its flagship Campbell's brand as well as other brands including Pepperidge Farm, Snyder's of Hanover, V8, and Swanson. With its namesake brand Campbell's produces soups and other canned foods, baked goods, beverages, and snacks. It is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.

Andrew Tosney is an English former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain (Colts), and at club level for Hunslet Boys Club, Hunslet, Hull Kingston Rovers and Wakefield Trinity, as a goal-kicking stand-off, i.e. number 6. As of 2011, he is the Vice president of Global Sales for Mondelēz International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denise Morrison</span> American business executive (born 1954)

Denise M. Morrison is an American business executive who served as president and chief executive officer of Campbell Soup Company from 2011 through 2018. Named the "21st Most Powerful Woman in Business" by Fortune magazine in 2011, Morrison was elected a director of Campbell in October 2010. She became Campbell's 12th leader in the company's 140-year history. Morrison retired from Campbell in May 2018.

Mondelez International, Inc., styled as Mondelēz International, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26.5 billion and operates in approximately 160 countries. It ranked No. 108 in the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belvita</span> American breakfast biscuit brand

Belvita, sometimes stylized as belVita or BelVita, is a brand of breakfast biscuit introduced originally in France in 1998 as LU Petit Déjeuner by Kraft Foods Inc. and currently owned by Mondelēz International.

John T. Cahill is an American businessman.

Udi's Healthy Foods is a brand of gluten-free food owned by Conagra Brands.

Michele Buck is an American businesswoman. In March 2017, she became the first female Chairman, President, and CEO of The Hershey Company, an American food manufacturing company, replacing former CEO John Bilbrey.

Dirk van de Put is a Belgian businessman, and the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mondelez International. CEO since November 2017, he also became chairman in April 2018.

References

  1. ↑ "Mark Alan Clouse". West Point Association of Graduates. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Feinstein, John. "Mission First: Filling His Role". Army West Point Athletics. November 1, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Feinstein, John. "Mark Clouse: Filling His Role". In: Beretta, Bob (ed). Mission First: Profiles of Army West Point Athletics. Army Athletic Association, 2016. pp. 17–19.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mondelez International. "Form 8-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. October 27, 2015.
  5. ↑ Walsh, Jim. "Million-dollar man: Former Pinnacle Foods boss Mark Clouse named Campbell Soup CEO". Courier-Post . December 20, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Mondelez International Appoints Mark Clouse as Chief Growth Officer". MondelezInternational.com. July 31, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Campbell Names Mark A. Clouse President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Board". BusinessWire . December 20, 2018.
  8. ↑ Madden, Normandy. "Kraft Gives Brands A Twist So They'll Have More Appeal In China". Ad Age . August 27, 2007.
  9. ↑ Rosenfeld, Irene. "Inside the Kraft Foods Transformation". Strategy&Business . Autumn 2009; Issue 56. August 27, 2009.
  10. ↑ Elliott, Stuart. "Food Brands Get Sociable on Facebook and Twitter". New York Times . June 30, 2010.
  11. ↑ Kraft Foods Inc. "Form 8-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. January 9, 2012. p. 2.
  12. ↑ "What Makes Kraft's Talent Development So Successful?". DiversityInc. September 4, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Kraft Foods Proposes Mondelēz International, Inc. As New Name For Global Snacks Company". Mondelez International. March 21, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Kraft to rename snack unit 'Mondelez'". CNN Money . March 21, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Mondelez International Completes Spin-Off of Its North American Grocery Business". PR Newswire . October 1, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Kraft Food to rebrand as Mondelez International later this year". The Drum. March 22, 2012.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ Lazare, Lewis. "Mondelez names chief growth officer". Chicago Business Journal . August 1, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Clouse Up, West Out at Mondelez" Archived 2017-10-16 at the Wayback Machine . Brand-Innovators.com. July 31, 2014.
  20. ↑ Schultz, E. J. "Mondelez CMO Mary Beth West To Exit". Ad Age . July 31, 2014.
  21. ↑ Gasparro, Annie. "Mondelez Profit Soars on Gain, Management Shift Unveiled". Wall Street Journal . October 28, 2015.
  22. ↑ "The Lowdown: Butterball Is Selling Norman Rockwell Turkeys". Ad Age . October 28, 2015.
  23. 1 2 "Pinnacle Foods Inc. Names Mark A. Clouse Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Board". PR Newswire . April 27, 2016.
  24. 1 2 Jamerson, Joshua. "Pinnacle Foods Taps Mondelez's Clouse as CEO". Wall Street Journal . April 27, 2016.
  25. 1 2 Naidu, Richa; Herbst-Bayliss, Svea. "Campbell Soup names industry veteran Mark Clouse as new CEO". Reuters . December 20, 2018.
  26. 1 2 Halzack, Sarah. "Campbell's New CEO Brings the Right Ingredients". Bloomberg . December 20, 2018.
  27. ↑ Naidu, Richa; Herbst-Bayliss, Svea. "Exclusive: Campbell Soup steps up CEO search, COO a contender - sources". Reuters . September 9, 2018.
  28. ↑ Campbell Soup Company. "Form 8-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. December 21, 2018.
  29. 1 2 Gasparro, Annie. "Campbell Names Mark Clouse New CEO". Wall Street Journal . December 20, 2018.
  30. 1 2 3 Hilario, Kenneth. "Campbell Soup Co. names Mark Clouse as its new CEO". Philadelphia Business Journal . December 20, 2018.
  31. ↑ Naidu, Richa. "Incoming Campbell Soup CEO Clouse to be paid up to $7.4 million in 2019". Reuters . December 21, 2018.
  32. ↑ Gasparro, Annie; Lombardo, Cara. "Campbell Zeroes In on Ex-Pinnacle Foods Chief Mark Clouse for CEO Job". Wall Street Journal . November 27, 2018.
  33. ↑ Fortado, Lindsay. "Campbell Soup names Mark Clouse as new CEO". Financial Times . December 20, 2018.
  34. ↑ Noto, Anthony. "Campbell Soup aims at former Pinnacle Foods chief to take CEO job". New York Business Journal . November 28, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.