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Executive Vice President, Chief R&D and Innovation Officer*

Craig Slavtcheff joined the company in 2012 and was named Executive Vice President, Chief R&D and Innovation Officer in September 2019.

Craig leads our Global R&D function, including strategy, divisional product development, and corporate science and technology, as well as regulatory, nutrition, and culinary teams. Since joining the company, Craig has led various teams across divisions to drive consumer preferred innovations that combine culinary inspiration with product and packaging technology and appeal to consumers’ desire for delicious, affordable, nutritious, food. Under his leadership, we have transformed our innovation processes leveraging advanced sensory design methodologies and building agile, nimble development teams that mine consumer insights and translate them into superior product designs. He is a member of the Operating Committee, which focuses on Board-level matters and the development of the Strategic Plan and Annual Operating Plan. Craig reports to the CEO.

Throughout his more than 20-year career in consumer packaged goods, Craig has held several leadership positions in North America and Asia, responsible for driving the span of upstream research to divisional market focused innovation as well as quality assurance. He holds more than 80 patents, covering a wide range of product categories, many of which protected key innovations that generated growth platforms for the businesses he supported.

Craig earned a Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut.

He serves on the board of the International Food and Nutritional Sciences organization, as well as the International Research Institute.