“John is the future,” Ettinger said. “When a person becomes the president, you could argue it’s theirs to lose, but I would have every expectation that’s what would occur.”
The Notre Dame and New York University grad had been on a career-long tour of nearly every corner of the food industry: Employee for 15 years at Oreo-maker Mondelez International; president of plant-based foods and beverages at WhiteWave, maker of Silk and So Delicious; and CEO of cheese-based chips company Whisps.
The board elevating his resume points to Hormel’s continued shift away from commodity meat sales into more branded foods.
“My lens, coming in with some additional external experience, will bring some new ways of thinking, new ways of looking at the business, some new insights, some new approaches,” Ghingo said. “But that will all be very much grounded in the understanding of what makes Hormel so distinct.”
As president, Ghingo will oversee Hormel’s three core business groups: retail, food service and international, in addition to strategy, supply chain and R&D. Ettinger will handle more of the corporate functions during his 15-month stint, including finance, human resources and compliance.