Hershey appoints new Finance VP

Hershey appoints new Finance VP

The Hershey Company has appointed Humberto Alfonso as vice president of finance and planning for the confectionery firm's US commercial group, effective July 17, 2006.

In his new position, Mr Alfonso will report to David West, the company's senior vice president and CFO, and will support Christopher Baldwin, senior vice president of Hershey's US commercial group.

Mr Alfonso will assume overall responsibility for providing finance and planning support to the group. He will provide business insight and analysis to help further Hershey's value-enhancing strategy.

In the announcement, Mr West said: "Bert brings more than 20 years of financial leadership across all areas of finance, including treasury, business support and supply chain. He has extensive international experience as well as a deep understanding of the snack market.

"Throughout his career, he has maintained a strong focus on driving profitable growth, and he will play a key role in providing the financial insights, analysis and tools to help Hershey realize the opportunities in the US confectionery and snack markets."

Mr Alfonso joins Hershey from Cadbury Schweppes, where he was executive vice president of finance and CFO for Americas Beverages. He led all finance and information technology functions for the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean region.

Mr Alfonso joined Cadbury Schweppes in 2003 as vice president of finance. In this role, he was based in London with responsibility for developing financial and strategic aspects of the company's global supply chain, including logistics, procurement and sourcing.

Prior to joining Cadbury Schweppes, Mr Alfonso was vice president and CFO for the Adams division of Pfizer. From 1983 to 2000, he worked in a variety of financial leadership positions at Warner Lambert, most recently as vice president and international treasurer.