Dive Brief:
- Eric Firer joined the Kellogg Company as CIO of Kellogg North America, the former regional CIO for Bacardi’s North and Latin American beverage division said in a Monday LinkedIn post.
- Kellogg, which announced plans to separate its cereal and snack businesses last year, confirmed Thursday via email that Firer was named CIO, effective June 19. He succeeds Bill Rex, who will become CIO of the newly formed WK Kellogg Co.
- “We are thrilled to welcome Eric to Kellogg. He’s a forward thinker with 22 years of IT leadership experience in the consumer packaged goods space and a proven track record of successful leadership, strategy planning and execution,” a company spokesperson said.
Dive Insight:
After decades as the Kellogg Company, the legacy food business announced in March the names of the two independent entities that will emerge after it splits by the end of this year.
WK Kellogg Co will retain the company’s familiar North American cereal business, and the new Kellanova will consolidate its global snack brands, including Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts and Eggo.
While the company initially planned to spin-off its Plant Co division, which includes the frozen vegetarian/vegan brand MorningStar Farms, it will be integrated into Kellanova.
Rex, who joined Kellogg in 2020 as North America CIO, was appointed to the cereal company’s future leadership team in September. He previously served as VP of global ERP and senior director of IT shared services at Stryker, the Michigan-based medical technologies corporation, for nearly four years.
Firer’s two decades of IT leadership experience includes more than eight years with J. Crew in IT security and project management roles, six years with The Estée Lauder Companies in retail technologies, vendor management and R&D capacities, and his most recent 17-month stint at Bacardi.
Kellogg’s current global CIO, Lesley Salmon, is overseeing the IT bifurcation necessary to facilitate the corporate restructuring and will take over as Kellanova’s global CIO when the process is complete.
