SMITHFIELD, Va., Sept. 14, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smithfield Foods, Inc., today announced that Julia Anderson, former Vice President of Global Applications at H.J. Heinz Company, has been named Smithfield's global chief information officer, effective immediately. Ms. Anderson succeeds Mansour Zadeh, who will move into a consulting role as senior advisor for SAP implementation for an interim period, after which he will retire.
In her new role as global chief information officer, Ms. Anderson will be responsible for the strategic planning, oversight and global operation of all information systems and technology functions at Smithfield. She will also be in charge of implementing the Company's "One SAP" project that will streamline the business processes and technology resources across Smithfield's Fresh Pork and Packaged Meats divisions.
Ms. Anderson brings to Smithfield more than 29 years of information technology excellence and an extensive track record in Fortune 500 consumer branded companies. In her most recent role at H.J. Heinz, Ms. Anderson was the Global IT leader who oversaw the successful standardization of technology functions across the enterprise. Prior to joining H.J. Heinz in 2013, Ms. Anderson held a variety of roles within PepsiCo, Inc., most recently as Senior Director of Foodservice, Equipment Innovation and Customer Systems. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Ms. Anderson held leadership roles at Kraft foods during the merger with General Foods and Oscar Mayer. Ms. Anderson holds a BS in Information Science from Northeastern Illinois University.
"I am thrilled to welcome Julia to Smithfield and am confident that her expertise in IT strategic planning, restructuring, digital marketing and business intelligence will allow her to excel in this new role and support our transition to 'One Smithfield,'" said C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer. "Julia's appointment builds upon the other senior leadership appointments we recently announced and makes our exceptional leadership team even stronger. I look forward to Julia's contributions as we continue to set the vision and strategy for Smithfield and implement our strategic initiatives."
Mr. Pope continued, "On behalf of the entire Smithfield family, I want to thank Mansour for his many contributions to Smithfield over the past 14 years. We wish him all the best as he relocates to Arizona with his family and in his retirement."
About Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield®, Eckrich®, Farmland®, Armour®, Cook's®, John Morrell®, Gwaltney®, Nathan's Famous®, Kretschmar®, Margherita®, Curly's®, Carando® and Healthy Ones®. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com.