Dive Brief:
- The Campbell’s Company named Risa Cretella as president of its meals and beverages unit starting in February. She takes over from Mick Beekhuizen who is becoming CEO at Campbell’s.
- Cretella joined Campbell’s in March 2024 after the New Jersey company acquired Rao’s pasta sauce owner Sovos Brands for $2.7 billion. In her new role, she will oversee brands including the company’s namesake soup, Pace, Pacific Foods, Prego, Swanson and V8 in North America.
- Cretella’s appointment is the latest C-suite change in the food and beverage space during the last two months, with Campbell’s, Hormel Foods and Hershey all announcing a reshuffling.
Dive Insight:
The purchase of Sovos gave Campbell’s ownership of Rao’s, the premium sauce brand that has been one of the fastest-growing products in the food space in recent years. As Campbell’s alters its executive ranks, the food maker is promoting Cretella who was instrumental in helping build Rao’s. She will now oversee Campbell’s sprawling meals and beverages unit with $5.3 billion in annual sales.
“Risa is a phenomenal and accomplished leader with a strong record of driving financial and marketplace growth,” Beekhuizen said. “Since joining Campbell’s, she has been instrumental in the successful integration of Sovos Brands, while continuing the momentum of the business. Risa’s proven ability to deliver business results and build high-performance teams makes her the right person to lead our Meals & Beverages division as we continue to transform and grow our categories.”
Cretella has nearly 25 years in the food industry with experience in general management, marketing and sales. Prior to Sovos, she was at Pinnacle Foods in senior marketing roles, which included working with frozen foods like the $1 billion Birds Eye brand. Earlier in her career, Cretella spent more than a decade at J.M. Smucker Company in marketing and sales roles.
Her experience across multiple facets of the food business, and understanding of how to grow and innovate key brands, likely was attractive to Campbell’s. Cretella’s more than two decades in the food space will prove especially valuable as she helps guide Campbell’s meals and beverage business amid changing consumer tastes and a cutback in spending due to inflation.
