September 15, 2015

Smithfield Foods appoints new global chief information officer

Smithfield Foods, Inc. has announced the appointment of Julia Anderson, the former vice president of global applications at H.J. Heinz Company, as the company's global chief information officer, effective immediately.

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, 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 business processes and technology resources across Smithfield's Fresh Pork and Packaged Meats divisions.

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, Anderson was the Global IT leader who oversaw the successful standardisation of technology functions across the enterprise. Prior to joining H.J. Heinz in 2013, 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, Anderson held leadership roles at Kraft foods during the merger with General Foods and Oscar Mayer.

Anderson holds a Bachelor of Science in information science from Northeastern Illinois University, US.

"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, Smithfield's president and CEO.