President of global marketing
Ms. Holden, 48, will report to new sole
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In addition, Kraft has organized its geographic-based commercial units into North America Commercial, to be headed by David Johnson, 47, former president of operations, technology, procurement, information systems and ales, and International Commercial, to be headed by Hugh Roberts, 52, former group vice president of Kraft Foods International and president of the Asia Pacific region.
No agency changes imminent
The changes are intended to streamline global decision-making, which has been fragmented previously with decisions being made mainly country by country and through global category councils, Kraft spokesman Michael Mudd said. No agency changes are expected imminently as a result of the shift, Mr. Mudd said, as Kraft's global brands are already consolidated with single global agencies.
Kraft has been under fire by Wall Street recently to drive growth, especially in North America. Food analysts point to Ms. Holden's failure to boost sales of hard-hit categories such as biscuits and cheese against private-label competition as the reason for her demotion last month, but Kraft is stressing the importance of Ms. Holden's new role as it looks to leverage its global scale.
Kraft is expected to make further announcements during its Jan. 27 meeting with analysts, among them an expected boost to its annual marketing budget.
