Irene Blecker Rosenfeld (born May 3, 1953) is an American businesswoman who was the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of

Mondelēz International Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...

. Rosenfeld's career began at

Dancer Fitzgerald Sample Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (DFS and later DFS-Dorland) was a Madison Avenue advertising agency during the 20th century. It was founded in Chicago in 1923, and was acquired and merged into the Saatchi & Saatchi network in the 1980s. History The ag ...

, a New York City

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

. She later joined

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

consumer research, and then led

Frito-Lay Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavor ...

as CEO and chairwoman.

Early life and education

Rosenfeld was born to a Jewish family in

Westbury, New York The Incorporated Village of Westbury is a Village (New York), village in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. It is located a ...

, the daughter of Seymour and Joan Blecker. She has one younger sister, Linda Blecker. Her father's parents were Romanian Jews, her mother's grandparents were German Jews. She later attended

W. Tresper Clarke High School W. T. Clarke High School is a high school in Salisbury, New York. It is operated by the East Meadow Union Free School District, also known as the East Meadow School District. The school serves students living in Salisbury, East Meadow, and Levit ...

in Westbury, NY. She holds a PhD in marketing and statistics, a master's degree in business, and a bachelor's degree in psychology from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where she also excelled at sports, like basketball, volleyball and tennis, often serving as team captain, which she cites as "a key factor in my leadership development."

Career

Rosenfeld has been involved in the food and beverage industry for about 30 years. Her first job was at

in New York City; she later joined

in consumer research. In 2004, Rosenfeld was appointed chairwoman and CEO of Frito-Lay, a division of

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

, where she focused on product promotion. Rosenfeld was appointed CEO of

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

In June 2006. 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 chairman in March 2007, following

Altria Group Altria Group, Inc. (previously known as Philip Morris Companies, Inc.) is an American corporation and one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes and related products. It operates worldwide and is headquartered in ...

's spin-off of Kraft. In 2008, she was named sixth on

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

's "50 Women to Watch" list. Rosenfeld has been listed multiple times as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world by ''Forbes'' where she was ranked at 15th, just behind

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

, in 2014. In 2010, Rosenfeld earned total compensation of $19.3 million, placing her 48th on Forbes Executive Pay. Rosenfeld is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. She serves on the board of directors for 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 ...

and the

board of trustees. She sits on the board of directors of the

Consumer Goods Forum The Consumer Goods Forum is a global organization of 400 consumer goods companies with the likes of Amazon and Kellogg being involved. It represents combined sales of 2.5 trillion Euros across 70 countries and 10 million employees. Overview The C ...

. In August 2011, Kraft said it planned to split into two publicly traded companies, one focusing on its international snack brands like

Trident gum Trident is a brand of sugar-free chewing gum. It was originally introduced by American Chicle shortly before it was bought by Warner-Lambert in 1962, but did not reach the UK until 2007 when it was introduced by its then-owner Cadbury Schweppes ...

and

Oreo Oreo () (stylized as OREO) is a brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two biscuits or cookie pieces with a sweet creme filling. It was introduced by Nabisco on March 6, 1912, and through a series of corporate acquisitions, mergers and split ...

cookies and the other on its North American groceries business that includes

Maxwell House Maxwell House is an American brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz in North America and JDE Peet's in the rest of the world. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, it was named in honor of the Ma ...

coffee and

Oscar Mayer Oscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut producer known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon, ham, and Lunchables products. The company is a subsidiary of the Kraft Heinz Company and based in Chicago, Illinois. History Early years German immigr ...

meats. On December 5, 2011, Kraft announced that Rosenfeld would stay on as chairman of the $31 billion global snacking company, which would be called Mondelēz International, Inc.

Tony Vernon W. Anthony Vernon is a business executive who was the first chief executive officer of Kraft Foods after it was spun off from the Mondelēz International in 2012. Prior to his time at Kraft, he had a 23-year career at Johnson & Johnson and spent t ...

, 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.

Mondelez Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding and beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26 billion and operates in ...

announced in August 2017 that

Dirk Van de Put Dirk van de Put (born 1959/60) is a Belgian businessman, and the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mondelez International. CEO since November 2017, he also became chairman in April 2018. Early life Van de Put is a native of Mechelen, ...

would replace Rosenfeld as CEO of the company following her retirement in November 2017.

Controversy

During campaigns for the 2016 US presidential election, Mondelēz and Rosenfeld were criticized by Republican candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

and Democratic candidates

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

and

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

for

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

approximately 600 U.S. jobs from Chicago to Salinas, Mexico, prompting the

Oreo Boycott Oreo boycott (also known as the Nabisco boycott and Mondelez boycott) is a boycott of the Oreo cookie and other Nabisco-manufactured products, including Chips Ahoy! and Cheese Nips. The boycott was prompted by the Mondelez company's decision to cl ...

. Worker pickets have also taken place at various events Rosenfeld has attended, in addition to outside her own home.

References

External links

Irene Rosenfeld
profile at ''

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 re ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenfeld, Irene 1953 births Living people American women chief executives American people of German-Jewish descent American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Kraft Foods people American chief executives of manufacturing companies 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople People from Westbury, New York Mondelez International American chief executives of food industry companies Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management alumni American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesswomen