Food and beverage executive Kirk Tanner is jumping from international fast food chain The Wendy's Company to chocolate producer The Hershey Company.
Wendy's said its President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was leaving in a move effective 18 July.
Wendy's Board has appointed Chief Financial Officer Ken Cook as interim CEO and launched a search for a permanent CEO.
"Our senior leadership team has established a very clear strategic blueprint for growth and is already beginning to execute on this strategy,” Wendy’s Chairman Art Winkleblack said in a statement.
He said the Board understood Tanner’s decision to return to the consumer-packaged goods industry.
Hershey said Tanner, who spent more than three decades at PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP), would succeed Michele Buck as President and CEO effective 18 August following Buck’s announcement of her retirement at the beginning of this year.
“Leading Hershey is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference with loved brands, and I look forward to working closely with the Board of Directors and the entire team to advance our Leading Snacking Powerhouse ambition,” Tanner said in a statement.
Shares in Hershey (NYSE: HSY), which was founded in 1894 and is one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world, fell $5.62 (3.2%) to $169.93 on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), capitalising the company at US$34.40 billion (A$53 billion).
Wendy’s shares (NASDAQ: WEN) ended one cent lower (0.09%) at $11.29, capitalising the company at $2.17 billion, before slipping three cents lower in after-market trading.
Founded in 1969, Wendy’s is the third-largest burger chain in the United States behind McDonald’s, which is capitalised at US$208 billion (A$334 billion), and the privately-owned Burger King.
