Minnesota-based Hormel Foods Corporation, a Fortune 500 branded food company, has announced a series of executive appointments.
Scott Aakre (pictured) has been appointed as group vice president and chief marketing officer of Hormel Foods' retail business.
Aakre will be responsible for helping the company's brand portfolio to meet the changing needs of consumers, amplifying scale in snacking and entertaining, and growing the company's ethnic and 'food-forward' portfolio.
The division includes brands such as Planters, Skippy, Justin's, Dinty Moore, Hormel chili, Corn Nuts, Herdez, and Wholly, as well as the iconic SPAM brand, among others, the company added.
Most recently, Aakre served as the senior vice president of Brand Fuel, the company's innovation, consumer and shopper insights teams.
It also includes the Digital Experience Group – the e-commerce team that supports Hormel Foods' brands and businesses in the virtual marketplace.
Aakre is an experienced professional who joined Hormel Foods in 1990 and held a variety of brand and product management positions for the company before being named group product manager in 2003 and director of marketing later that year.
In 2005, he was promoted to the position of vice president of marketing for the company's former Grocery Products division.
He assumed the role of vice president of corporate innovation and new product development in 2011 and was named senior vice president of Brand Fuel in 2022.
Lisa Selk
The company has named Lisa Selk as Aakre's successor as senior vice president of Brand Fuel.
Most recently, Selk served as vice president of retail marketing for convenient meals and proteins for Hormel Foods.
In this role, she was responsible for the strategic marketing efforts for many of the company's leading brands, including SPAM, Skippy peanut butter, and Justin's nut butter, among others.
In 1998, Selk joined Hormel Foods as a food scientist in the research and development division and has since held brand management and innovation leadership roles in multiple divisions.
She served as the marketing director for a portfolio of well-known Hormel Foods brands in the grocery products division before assuming leading the company's former CytoSport business in 2017.
In 2019, Selk was named director of Hormel Health Labs and Century Foods International. In the following year, she was promoted to vice president of marketing for meat products.
Snee commented, "Lisa has strong experience delivering growth to many of our iconic brands and has been deeply involved in our insights and innovation efforts throughout her more than 25-year career at Hormel Foods.
"I am confident that Lisa will continue to be a great brand-builder and innovator in this new role."
Natosha Walsh
Elsewhere, Natosha Walsh will replace Selk as vice president of marketing for convenient meals and proteins in the retail segment.
Most recently, Walsh served as vice president of retail sales for the company's national chains.
Commenting on Walsh's appointment, See said, "Natosha has extensive sales and marketing experience and has been an outstanding leader in the Retail organisation.
"Natosha understands the continually changing consumer and customer landscape as we focus on the continued growth of this very important brand portfolio."
In 1999, Walsh joined Hormel Foods and throughout her career, she has held positions of increasing responsibility in brand management, sales, trade and category management, customer account leadership and supply chain.
Lynn Egner
Hormel Foods has named Lynn Egner as vice president of retail sales - West and will replace Walsh.
Egner will be responsible for the company's retail sales strategy and execution with the company's customers in the Western Region of the United States, the company noted.
"With her considerable sales experience and focus on customer-centric relationships, Lynn brings exceptional leadership to this position," said PJ Connor, group vice president of retail sales.
Egner joined Hormel Foods in 1997 in the food service sales division and was promoted to positions of increasing authority and reach, including at the national level.
In 2014, the company promoted her to the role of director of distributor trade development for food service.
She was named director of sales for Hormel Foods deli solutions in 2018 before stepping into her current role of assistant vice president of Retail sales – West in 2022.
