Dive Brief:

• The Campbell’s Company said Tuesday that it appointed Todd Cunfer, the CFO of pet food maker Freshpet, to become its finance chief, effective Oct. 20.
• Cunfer, whose extensive career in corporate finance includes a two-decade run at Hershey Company, will succeed Campbell’s CFO Carrie Anderson who is leaving the Camden, New Jersey-based food giant to “pursue new opportunities,” the company said.
• Cunfer’s “deep industry knowledge will be invaluable as we navigate the dynamic operating environment and continue executing our strategy to deliver sustainable, profitable growth,” Campbell’s CEO Mick Beekhuizen said in a press release.

Dive Insight:

Anderson is exiting the CFO seat at Campbell’s after less than three years in the role. A spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for further details on her future plans.

Meanwhile, Freshpet has tapped Ivan Garcia, its vice president of finance, to serve as its interim CFO, effective Oct. 17, the company announced Tuesday.

“This marks the fourth and fifth CFO changes year-to-date in the US food space, which by our count makes it the most active year since 2022,” J.P. Morgan analysts said in a client’s note.

Innovative Food Holdings, The Simply Good Foods Company and Flowers Foods have also announced finance leadership changes this year.

Cunfer, 61, joins Campbell’s with over 25 years of finance and operational experience in the consumer-packaged goods industry, mostly in the food space, the company said. He will receive a base salary of $725,000 per year in his new role, according to a securities filing. He will also receive a one-time cash payment of $1.2 million “ in recognition of his forfeiture of equity awards and an annual bonus from his prior employment,” according to the filing. 

Before becoming Freshpet’s CFO in 2022, he served as the finance chief of Simply Good Foods for five years. Prior to that, he worked for Hershey in a variety of senior finance roles for more than 20 years, including vice president of international finance, as well as vice president of global supply chain finance.

Cunfer is, in a sense, “moving up the corporate ladder” given that he’s taking a top finance post at a larger company, the analysts at J.P. Morgan said.

The Campbell’s finance leadership transition comes after the company reported mixed quarterly earnings results last month.

The company generated $2.3 billion in net sales during its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter ended Aug. 3, a 1% increase compared with the year-earlier period. Organic net sales, which exclude the impact from the additional week in the quarter and the impact from divestitures, decreased 3% to $2.2 billion.

“Campbell's ended the year on a dire note,” Morningstar analyst Erin Lash said in a client’s note last month.

The results show that “consumers' search for value and healthier fare is taking a toll on packaged-food volumes,” Lash said.

According to an analysis by Zacks Equity Research after the earnings results, Campbell's is battling “a dynamic operating and regulatory landscape resulting in substantial input cost woes, thanks to tariffs, which, despite major mitigation efforts, lower its earnings view for the fiscal year.” 

The drop in organic net sales was “primarily driven by lower volume/mix, partially related to the expected reversal of the favorable timing of shipments in the third quarter related to the implementation of the company's existing enterprise-resource planning system for Sovos Brands,” according to a Campbell’s press release on the results.