Finance & Capital Management

Either through specialized expertise in stores, like lululemon and Under Armour, or by ease of access to a wide variety of products, like Amazon, this year's fastest-growing retailers are going beyond function to a more emotional connection as the key to rapid growth.

The executive joins Mars from Johnson & Johnson where he most recently served as the General Manager-Walmart Global Cross Functional team for the Consumer Products segment.

After the company was sold off by Procter & Gamble to a private equity firm, SunnyD had to move quickly to establish a solid infrastructure in order to get its products to market without any significant gaps.

The portfolio being acquired includes a broad range of liquid and dry-mix salad dressing flavors under the Wish-Bone and Western brand names, at a purchase price of $580 million.

The proposed transaction includes Campbells national brands of soups, sauces and simple meals, including Liebig and Royco in France, Erasco in Germany, Bl Band in Sweden and Devos Lemmens and Royco in Belgium.

The acquisition of Associated Brands will significantly strengthen TreeHouse's retail presence in private label dry grocery and will introduce a line of specialty tea products to complement its fast growing single serve coffee business.

In addition to adding two new leaders, Campbell North America Innovation Vice President Darren Serrao has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Innovation and New Business Development.

This acquisition provides Post a platform in the growing active nutrition and supplements businesses.