Carla Vernon Departs General Mills
Annie’s has a new head bunny: senior executive Carla Vernón has left General Mills, where she led the organic brand and the rest of the company’s natural and organic division.
In an email to NOSH, Vernón said that she will look back on her time at General Mills fondly.
“I chose to leave General Mills because I am looking forward to trying some new things,” she said, calling her 22 years with the company “ a gift I treasure.”
Vernón first joined the company in 1998 as an associate marketing manager for Honey Nut Cheerios. She also held lead roles at Yoplait before rising to become VP and business unit director for snacks from 2015 to 2016. In the snack unit she oversaw a $1.5 billion portfolio of “portable wellness snacks” including Nature Valley bars, Fiber One snacks, Larabar, Fruit Snacks, and Cascadian Farm bars.
When longtime Annie’s CEO John Foraker left General Mills to run baby food startup Once Upon a Farm in summer 2017, Vernón was serving as VP of natural and organic growth acceleration, and was promoted to president of Annie’s and president of General Mills’ natural & organic operating unit.
In recent years, Vernón became an outspoken voice and champion for diversity within the food and beverage industry. In speaking engagements she routinely spoke to the need for a more diverse set of founders and leaders, both in order to reach a changing consumer base but also to inspire new patterns of thought. At times, Vernón even criticized the industry for engaging in unconscious bias, helping minority founders share their own stories of the microaggressions and stereotypes that they’ve faced.
During her time as president of natural & organic, a spokesperson for General Mills said, the company became the second largest branded natural and organic food producer in the U.S.. In recent years the group has helped lead the company’s efforts to develop new programs around regenerative agriculture, working to advance the supply chain within the U.S.
In 2019, General Mills committed to converting one million acres of farmland to regenerative agriculture practices.
Moving forward, Emily Thomas has been promoted to the new role of VP, managing director of natural and organic. The role of president will no longer exist. Thomas has been with General Mills since 2002, in recent years serving as business unit director for Pillsbury, as well as the business unit director for dry baking and meals, and as a brand manager for children’s cereals.
Thomas will oversee the Annie’s, Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen businesses. Meanwhile, meat snack brand Epic, which General Mills acquired in 2016, will be moved from the natural and organic operating unit to the snacks operating unit, reporting to Jeff Caswell, president of U.S. Snacks for General Mills.
Looking forward, Vernón said that she has “exciting new ventures” that she is working on, but for now, they remain confidential.
“I am energized about the path ahead. And, I look forward to sharing more soon,” Vernón said. “I have been sharing my favorite Oprah quote because I hope it will inspire others as it inspires me for the road ahead: ‘When the time comes to bet on yourself, I hope you will double down.’”
