Michael Del Pozzo To Head Up Hershey’s U.S. Confection Business

The Hershey Company has named a new leader for its U.S. confection business. Michael Del Pozzo will lead the category’s growth as its president. The portfolio includes such brands as Hershey’s, Reese’s, and Jolly Rancher. 

Del Pozzo joins the company’s executive committee, working alongside Kristen Riggs, president of the salty snacks division, and Rohit Grover, president of the international segment, to advance Hershey's strategic growth goals.

CPG Growth Experience

Hershey has tapped Del Pozzo for his 23-year experience in leading business transformations with household-name brands such as Gatorade, Propel, Evolve, and Muscle Milk. He was most recently the president and general manager of PepsiCo-owned Gatorade, a role in which he helped develop the $10 billion business into a sports and fitness brand. 

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He was also Frito Lay North America’s chief customer officer, overseeing strategy, sales planning, customer supply chain, and commercialization for the U.S. customer sales organizations, according to his LinkedIn. Other responsibilities at Frito-Lay included innovation and program commercialization, in-store execution frameworks, portfolio curation, revenue strategy, and field marketing.

"Mike's deep consumer insights, his customer relationships, and his track record of delivering results and driving strategic change position him as the ideal leader to guide our U.S. confection business through its next chapter,” said Hershey CEO Michele Buck. “He will be instrumental in building on our strengths and advancing our Leading Snacking Powerhouse vision."

He replaces Charles Raup, who is pursuing other executive opportunities. Raup spent 15 years at Hershey.