Gary Rodkin is the past CEO and President of

ConAgra Foods Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

, one of the largest food processing companies in North America. Rodkin was formerly the CEO and president of the North America division of PepsiCo from 1995 to 2005, and still is a special consultant through his exit agreement with the company. On August 12, 2014, Rodkin announced that he would be retiring as CEO in 2015.

Education

Rodkin has a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

and an

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as account ...

from the

Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

Career

Early in his career, Rodkin worked at General Mills, Inc., in a variety of

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

and

general management A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

roles, taking a key role in many of the successes of the firm’s leading brands, such as Betty Crocker and

Cheerios Cheerios is a brand of cereal manufactured by General Mills in the United States, consisting of pulverized oats in the shape of a solid torus. In some countries, including the United Kingdom, Cheerios is marketed by Cereal Partners under the ...

. In 1995, Rodkin joined Tropicana Products, Inc. and became chief executive in August 1998. From 2003 to 2005, Rodkin was Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Beverages and Foods North America. He was also CEO and President at various times for: Pepsi-Cola North America, Pepsico, Inc. and PepsiCo Beverages and Foods North America. He has been an Independent Director at the United Industries Corporation since 2002, and a Director at Avon Products between 2007 and 2016. While CEO of ConAgra Foods in 2009, Gary M. Rodkin earned a total compensation of $5,858,677, which included a base salary of $1,019,231, a cash bonus of $1,100,000, stocks granted of $2,126,000, options granted of $1,425,850, and other compensation totaling $187,596. After leaving ConAgra Foods, in July 2015 he took on the role of Independent Director for the

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in India ...

Charitable endeavors

Rodkin is the chairman of Boys Town, the Prosper Omaha economic development campaign established by the

Omaha Chamber of Commerce The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce is the chamber of commerce in Omaha, Nebraska. When United States Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke to the chamber in 2007, his comments were noted for his continued endorsement of globalization. ...

and Chairman of the Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home Board of Trustees. He has also been Chairman of the

Grocery Manufacturers Association The Consumer Brands Association (CBA), formerly the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), is a United States-wide trade association for manufacturers of consumer packaged goods (CPG). The CBA represents companies that manufacture food, bever ...

since 2011. Gary and Barbara Rodkin donated $15 million dollars to Rutgers University in 2018 to build the Gary and Barbara Rodkin Center for Academic Success to support the academic achievements of Rutgers' approximately 700 student-athletes.

Recognition

Rodkin was listed as Number 250 on

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

' Top CEO Compensation for 2011. He received the FMI Albers Award for Business Collaboration in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodkin, Gary American chief executives of food industry companies Rutgers University alumni Harvard Business School alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)