Veteran Marketer Ivan Pollard Joins General Mills as Global Chief Marketing Officer

MINNEAPOLIS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- General Mills (NYSE: GIS) today announced that Ivan Pollard has been named global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), effective July 10, 2017. Pollard will report to Jeff Harmening, Chief Executive Officer and be accountable for establishing the company's first global marketing and media planning function responsible for marketing strategies, connections planning, and building organizational capabilities globally.

Pollard was most recently senior vice president, strategic marketing for Coca-Cola North America. During his time at Coca-Cola, Pollard was responsible for developing strategies to more effectively deploy a more than $2 billion global media spend. In the North American Coca-Cola business, Pollard instituted new data driven approaches to connections planning, management of digital platforms, media, sponsorships, and content creation.

"Ivan's diverse global experience brings us a fresh perspective on our brands and a deep understanding of how to operationalize integrated, modern marketing in the digital age," said Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills.  "We have tremendous opportunities to unlock global growth by improving the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and our teams are eager to build on the work they have started."

Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Pollard was a global partner in Naked Communications, the world's largest connections planning company, and had leading roles in global agencies such as BMP [now DDB Needham], and Wieden+Kennedy.  Pollard was a founding partner of Unity which later merged with the Ingram Partnership.

"I was drawn to General Mills by their beloved brands and the quality of their marketing talent, but I decided to join because of the good I see them doing in the world and the untapped opportunities I see for business growth. I'm excited to be part of their next chapter," said Pollard.

From England, Pollard holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Nottingham.

About General Mills

General Mills is a leading global food company that serves the world by making food people love. Its brands include Cheerios, Annie's, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Fiber One, Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2016 consolidated net sales of US $16.6 billion, as well as another US $1.0 billion from its proportionate share of joint-venture net sales.

SOURCE General Mills

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