General Mills Chief Transformation Officer Stepping Down

John Church will retire as General Mills’ chief transformation and enterprise services officer on Jan. 31, 2022.

Church joined General Mills in 1988 as a product developer and currently leads large-scale transformation efforts associated with the No. 33 consumer goods company’s Accelerate strategy. He also has responsibilities for the company’s sustainability and global impact, security and shared services functions.

“While he spent much of his career leading our supply chain efforts, John’s significant contributions are evident throughout our organization,” said Jeff Harmening, General Mills chairman and CEO, in a statement. “His true legacy is the innumerable employees he’s managed and mentored, many into senior leaders themselves. John is the embodiment of servant leadership. He leads by creating a compelling vision, fostering a team-first culture and guiding with great humility.”

[See also: General Mills Leans Into Predictive Experiences]

Prior to his current role, which he assumed six months ago as part of a larger restructuring, Church served as General Mills’ chief supply chain officer for 13 years with global accountability for procurement, logistics, manufacturing, engineering and human safety; corporate social responsibility, security and global shared services were added in 2017.

In addition to leading the successful integration of the Pillsbury and General Mills manufacturing logistics network, he also oversaw the recent European Yoplait divestiture and led such new product launches as Multi-Grain Cheerios and Trix shapes.

Church serves as the lead director for the supervisory board of Cereal Partners Worldwide, General Mills’ joint venture with Nestlé, as well as the executive sponsor of the company’s Hispanic Employee Network. General Mills credited him with increasing diversity across the organization.  

[See also: Supply Chain Execution Report]