Del Monte Foods Names Chief Marketing Officer

Food & Beverage Close-Up, May 15, 2008

FOOD AND BEVERAGE CLOSE-UP-15 May 2008-Del Monte Foods Names Chief Marketing Officer(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com

Del Monte Foods announced that the company has appointed William D. Pearce, a former Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Taco Bell, as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and that the company will also centralize all marketing functions in San Francisco.

Pearce brings over 20 years of consumer packaged foods experience, including senior marketing roles at Taco Bell, Campbell Soup and Procter & Gamble. As CMO at Taco Bell, Pearce was responsible for accelerating brand growth, building long-term brand equity, and improving overall profitability. At Taco Bell, he created new product platforms and led the largest new product introduction in Taco Bell history.

In this newly created position of CMO, Pearce will oversee the entire marketing organization including Pet and Consumer Marketing as well as Marketing Services, including Market Research, Package Design and Promotion. He will be headquartered in San Francisco, and report to Nils Lommerin, Chief Operating Officer.

"We've created the position of Chief Marketing Officer to further elevate our focus on marketing strategy, innovation, and execution across our portfolio," said Rick Wolford, Chairman and CEO. "This centralized organizational structure, located in San Francisco, will continue to build on our marketing success, enhance marketing's role in leading our future strategy, and significantly upgrade the Company's ability to fully optimize both our marketing resources and our strong talent pool across Del Monte's entire branded portfolio. I am very pleased about our newly aligned management team and believe Nils, now joined by Bill, will increase the marketing impact on our businesses, strategy and performance. Del Monte looks forward to leveraging Bill's proven track record of attracting top talent, implementing clear and compelling marketing campaigns, and executing margin accretive innovation."

Lommerin said, "This focused marketing leadership, combined with Bill's customer knowledge and innovation experience, will be key for Del Monte to further build on our already successful track record of brand-based, market performance. Having both the pet and consumer marketing teams integrated in one structure and in one place will be a clear advantage to Del Monte going forward. It creates a nucleus from which we can drive greater levels of innovation and also enhance our ability to attract talent. These organizational changes, combined with Bill's experience developing top-tier marketing organizations, will position us to improve our overall go-to-market strategy and drive increased success in the marketplace."Del Monte plans to relocate approximately 100 marketing and other related positions from Pittsburgh to San Francisco. The Company currently employs approximately 330 employees in the San Francisco Bay Area, 500 employees in Pittsburgh, and 18,000 employees, including seasonal workers, world-wide. Beginning fiscal 2010, Del Monte expects to achieve ongoing annual savings as a result of the centralization. The relocation is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months.

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