Irene Blecker Rosenfeld

Biography

Irene Blecker Rosenfeld (born May 3, 1953) is an American business executive, the chairwoman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mondelēz International. Her first job was at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency in New York City, and she later joined General Foods in consumer research.[3] In 2004, Rosenfeld was appointed chairperson and CEO of Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, where she focused on promoting products. Rosenfeld has been involved in the food and beverage industry for about 30 years. Her first job was at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency in New York City, and she later joined General Foods in consumer research In 2004, Rosenfeld was appointed chairperson and CEO of Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, where she focused on promoting products. In June 2006, Rosenfeld was appointed CEO of Kraft Foods.[7] She joined General Foods which later became a part of Kraft. Among her many accomplishments at Kraft, she led the restructuring and turnaround of key business in the US, Canada and Moscow. She is active in a number of industry and community organisations, including the Economic Club of Chicago. She was appointed to the additional post of chairperson in March 2007, following Altria Group's spin-off of Kraft. In 2008, she was placed sixth on The Wall Street Journal's "50 Women to Watch" list.[8] Rosenfeld has been listed multiple times as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes.[9][10] In 2014, she was ranked at 15th, just behind Oprah Winfrey.[11] In 2010, Rosenfeld earned total compensation of $19.3 million, placing her 48th on Forbes Executive Pay.[12] Rosenfeld is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. She serves on the board of directors for the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Cornell University board of trustees. She sits on the board of directors of the Consumer Goods Forum.[13] In August 2011, Kraft said it planned to split into two publicly traded companies, one focusing on its international snack brands like Trident gum and Oreo cookies and the other on its North American groceries business that includes Maxwell House coffee and Oscar Mayer meats.[14] In December 5, Kraft announced that Rosenfeld would stay on as chairperson of the $31 billion global snacking company, which would be called Mondelēz International, Inc. Tony Vernon, the president of Kraft Foods North America, would become CEO of the $17 billion North American grocery business, which would keep the Kraft Foods name.[15] Mondelez announced in August 2017 that Dirk Van de Put would replace Rosenfeld as CEO of the company following her retirement in November 2017.[

Research Interest

General Foods in consumer research