April 13 (Reuters) – Conagra Brands on Monday named J.M. Smucker executive John Brase as its new CEO, to steer the packaged food maker through softening consumer spending in the U.S. and a shifting tariff and geopolitical environment.
Brase will succeed Sean Connolly, who will step down after more than 11 years at the helm of Conagra and leave the board on May 31.
The CEO change comes less than a month after the company lowered its annual profit forecast nL6N40K0UW, citing increased uncertainty tied to global trade tensions.
Brase, 58, will join the company’s board of directors and assume the CEO role on June 1. An industry veteran, he most recently served as president and chief operating officer of J.M. Smucker, where he oversaw the company’s U.S. retail, international and “Away From Home” businesses.
Before joining Smucker, Brase spent roughly three decades at Procter & Gamble.
Connolly, during his tenure, had invested heavily in innovation, expanded the company’s presence in frozen foods and snacks, acquired Birds Eye maker Pinnacle Foods and also divested some non-core businesses.
He had joined in 2015 from Hillshire Brands, where he was the CEO from the time of its formation as an independent company to its sale to Tyson Foods.
Connolly also oversaw a run-up in Conagra’s shares to a record high of $41.68 in 2017, though the stock has lost about 60% of its value in the last nearly three years.
The company has also been under pressure from shifting consumer tastes linked to appetite-suppressing GLP-1 drugs for weight loss.
Conagra Brands has said it is investing in snacks such as its Slim Jim meat sticks, nuts and seeds, and issued a report last year that highlighted rising demand for protein-forward, portion-controlled and nutrient-dense foods, especially among Gen Z and millennials.
(Reporting by Sanskriti Shekhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Devika Syamnath)
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