Who’s Hired and Who’s Fired: Recent Supply Chain Leadership Moves
- Freddie Bolton
- Mar 26
- 4 min read
The past month delivered a focused set of confirmed supply chain leadership transitions across food manufacturing, container shipping, and consumer goods supply operations. Rather than sweeping overhauls at global logistics giants, the month reflected structural reinforcement in sectors where execution discipline, fleet modernization, and operational resilience remain paramount.
CaPow Expands Advisory Board as Robotics Power Constraints Move Into Strategic Focus
CaPow announced the expansion of its advisory board with three senior industry figures: David Scheffrahn of Ocado Intelligent Automation, John Santagate, formerly SVP of Global Robotics at Infios, and Matthew Wicks, former VP and GM at Zebra Robotics Automation. The company positions its Power-in-Motion technology as a response to one of the sector’s persistent inefficiencies - robot downtime linked to charging cycles. By enabling continuous energy transfer while robots are in motion, the approach reframes power delivery from a technical constraint into an operational lever tied directly to throughput and system uptime.
Industry voices joining the advisory board emphasized that as automation becomes mission-critical, eliminating interruptions is no longer optional. In large-scale deployments, even small inefficiencies in energy management can cascade into broader performance limitations across warehouse networks.
CaPow’s move reflects a broader shift in automation strategy: from deploying robots to optimizing the full infrastructure that supports them.
Campbell’s Appoints Cassandra Green Chief Supply Chain Officer
Campbell’s appointed Cassandra Green as Chief Supply Chain Officer on March 3, 2026. She joins the executive leadership team and is set to oversee the company’s integrated supply chain organization, adding another major branded food manufacturer to the February-March pattern of concentrating end-to-end supply authority in a single senior operator. The move fits the same broader theme seen across CPG: tighter alignment between manufacturing, planning, procurement, and distribution as companies push for service reliability and margin discipline in a still-demanding operating environment.
nVent Adds Mellinda Devese as Chief Supply Chain Officer
nVent appointed Mellinda Devese as Chief Supply Chain Officer on February 20, 2026, effective March 16. She reports directly to CEO Beth Wozniak and leads the company’s global integrated supply chain, including manufacturing operations, procurement, inventory management, distribution, global planning, logistics, lean, and safety. The appointment shows that the leadership-reset trend is not limited to food and consumer supply chains. Industrial manufacturers are also elevating end-to-end supply leadership as a lever for execution discipline, inventory control, and network resilience.
Hormel Foods Names New Chief Supply Chain Officer
Hormel Foods appointed Will Bonifant as Group Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, effective March 9, 2026. He will oversee global procurement, manufacturing, planning, logistics, engineering, and supply chain innovation. Bonifant joins from The Hershey Company, where he spent more than 15 years and most recently served as VP of manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain strategy for a 20-plant North American network. The company did not specify a direct predecessor.
The move reinforces how large CPG manufacturers continue centralizing end-to-end supply ownership under proven operators amid ongoing cost and service pressures.
Ocean Network Express Announces CEO Succession Plan Ocean Network Express (ONE) announced that Till Ole Barrelet will join as Chief Executive Officer-Designate on May 1, 2026, succeeding Jeremy Nixon as CEO effective July 1, 2026. Nixon, founding CEO since ONE's inception in 2018, will transition to Senior Advisor. Barrelet brings over 20 years of maritime and logistics experience, most recently as CEO of Emirates Shipping Line (ESL), with expertise in ship owning, financing, container shipping, and trade across Asia, Middle East, Europe, and Africa.
The succession includes a new Executive Management Team structure with the CEO and seven division representatives, plus six regional leaders reporting to the CEO, to enhance global matrix collaboration. This planned transition underscores ONE's focus on growth, operational excellence, and advancing its ONE2030 strategic priorities following Nixon's transformation of the merged Japanese carriers into a unified major liner operator with over 260 vessels and 2+ million TEU capacity.
ENEROC USA Appoints Max Khabur as Marketing Director
ENEROC USA appointed Max Khabur as Marketing Director as the company launches its North American operations. Khabur will lead marketing and communications activities as the lithium battery supplier expands its presence in the U.S. industrial and off-highway electric vehicle market.
The appointment comes alongside ENEROC’s entry into North America backed by technology and investment from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), a major global battery manufacturer. ENEROC develops lithium battery systems for industrial vehicles including forklifts, aerial work platforms, and other material-handling equipment.
J.M. Smucker Overhauls Supply Chain Leadership
J.M. Smucker Co. promoted Rob Ferguson to the newly created role of Chief Product Supply Officer and EVP of Coffee, Pet, and Away from Home business units, effective February 9, 2026. Ferguson, previously SVP and GM of Coffee and Procurement, now oversees operations, distribution, supply chain, procurement, commodity hedging, quality assurance, R&D, and cost/productivity programs, including the Transformation Office.
The changes follow the elimination of the COO role and retirements of several supply chain executives (including SVP Operations Randy Day and SVP Information Services & Supply Chain Bryan Hutson). The company is searching for a new SVP of Operations and Supply Chain, plus a new SVP of Science and Technical Community. These moves emphasize strategic focus on profitability, earnings growth, and execution in a competitive CPG environment.
The Signals
February 2026 produced no headline reshuffles at major global 3PLs but highlighted targeted transitions: CPG firms installing experienced CSCOs and overhauling supply structures for efficiency, while a leading container liner executed a smooth CEO handover to drive next-phase growth and resilience. The crisis-driven visibility of supply chain leadership remains. The current phase is about structural efficiency, strategic succession, capital discipline, and long-term network + operational resilience rather than reactive disruption management.
For tips, leaks or anonymous sourcing: editor@thesupplychainer.com
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