John A. Bryant is an Australian businessman. Bryant was the chairman and chief executive officer of Kellogg Company (

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...

) since January 2011. His retirement from the company was announced in September 2017.

Early life

Born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Bryant attended St Edmund's College in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

(ACT). Kellogg Company Board of Directors
/ref> Bryant received a Bachelor of Commerce from

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

in 1987, and received an MBA from the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...

Career

Bryant joined Kellogg Company in 1998, and has held a variety of roles, including chief financial officer (CFO); president, North America; president, international; and chief operating officer (COO). In July 2010, Bryant joined the Kellogg Company's board of directors. In January 2011, Bryant was named president and CEO. In July 2014, Bryant was named chairman of the Board of Kellogg Company. In this role, he also chairs the executive committee of the board. Bryant serves as a trustee of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Trust. He also serves on the board of directors of Catalyst, 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 ...

, and Macy's, Inc. Bryant is a Chartered Accountant of the

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the institute) was the professional accounting body representing Chartered Accountants in Australia before it merged with the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants to become Charter ...

.BusinessWeek
/ref>

Kellogg Company

In 2012, Bryant was sanguine about the purchase of

Pringles Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based crisps. Originally sold by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips", the brand was sold in 2012 to the current owner, Kellogg's. As of 2011, Pri ...

from

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

, after a deal with

Diamond Foods Diamond Foods was an American packaged food company based in San Francisco, that marketed nuts (particularly walnuts and almonds) and other snack foods. Diamond Foods was acquired by Snyder's-Lance in 2016, and as of 2018, Campbell Soup Company ...

fell through. Bryant has admitted to firing too many employees in the United States during the

2007–2012 global economic crisis The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

. On September 28, 2017, the company announced Bryant would retire in the first week of October. Steven Cahillane will succeed Bryant. According to Kellogg spokesperson Kris Charles, as reported by ''Fortune'', it was Bryant's decision to retire. Bryant will stay on as executive chairman until March 15.

Personal life

Bryant lives in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

, with his wife Alison and their six children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, John A. Businesspeople from Brisbane Australian National University alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni Australian chief executives People from Kalamazoo, Michigan Kellogg's Chief operating officers American chief financial officers American chief executives of manufacturing companies American chief executives of food industry companies Living people Year of birth missing (living people)