Amanda Almond will become President, International at The Hershey Company on Oct. 12, the snacks giant confirmed, filling a seat vacated by Rohit Grover after 27 years with the Pennsylvania-based company, including eight as international president.
Almond brings more than 30 years of consumer goods and retail experience. Most recently she served as regional managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Vinarchy, the Bain Capital-backed global wine company, where she oversaw a region spanning 57 markets. Before Vinarchy, she spent 12 years at Bacardi in progressively larger regional leadership roles.
Why the Hire Matters
For c-store buyers and category managers, the leadership change at Hershey's international division carries practical weight. Confectionery remains one of the highest-velocity impulse categories at the forecourt and front-end, and Hershey's portfolio — Reese's, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, SkinnyPop, and the ONE Brands protein line — spans the full snacking spectrum that convenience retailers have been leaning on to offset softness in other inside-sales categories. A new international president focused on scaling brands across 65 countries could signal fresh investment in the global supply and innovation pipeline that eventually flows to domestic c-store shelves.
Kirk Tanner, president and CEO of The Hershey Company, pointed to Almond's track record of building performance cultures in complex, multi-market environments. "She has a track record of scaling and growing businesses, bringing teams together and building high-performance cultures, and she brings the experience and energy to accelerate our international growth," Tanner said, also thanking Grover for nearly three decades of service.
Leadership Transition
Grover joined Hershey in 1999 and is credited with building the company's international footprint to its current scale across approximately 65 countries. Almond will work alongside Hershey's International Leadership Team during the transition period and will be based out of the company's U.K. office. She holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from the University of Edinburgh and has completed advanced retail and leadership studies at Oxford and Harvard Business School.
The appointment lands as Hershey, which reported more than $11.7 billion in annual revenues, continues pushing its "ONE Hershey" go-to-market strategy — bringing confection, salty snacks, and functional/protein snacking under a unified commercial umbrella. For c-store operators, that integrated approach has translated into broader planogram opportunities spanning traditional candy racks, better-for-you snack sets, and protein-forward grab-and-go fixtures near the dispensed beverage station.
Almond's EMEA background may also prove relevant as Hershey looks to tighten global sourcing and premiumize its international confectionery offer — dynamics that historically ripple back to domestic product innovation cycles and limited-edition SKUs that convenience retailers use to drive impulse purchase and loyalty engagement.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
