Irene Rosenfeld

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Irene Rosenfeld is the 53-year-old CEO of Kraft Foods Inc., having been appointed June 26, 2006.

Rosenfeld had spent more than 20 years with Kraft and General Foods before joining Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, in 2004, and rejoining Kraft as CEO in 2006. Rosenfeld left Kraft to become CEO of Frito-Lay in 2004 before returning to Kraft in June 2006. She is currently a trustee of Cornell University, her alma mater. Rosenfeld received bachelor, master, and doctor degrees from Cornell.

Rosenfeld decided to use the title Chairman as opposed to Chairwoman when Altria spins off Kraft Source: WSJ 2.20.07). Irene B. Rosenfeld was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kraft Foods in June, 2006.

Rosenfeld is a food industry veteran. She began her career with General Foods in 1981 as Associate Market Research Manager. She spent more than 20 years with Kraft. During that time, she advanced in a variety of leadership roles, spanning numerous Kraft businesses in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Early in her career, Rosenfeld served as Associate Product Manager on Country Time Lemonade. From there, she moved through successively more responsible positions, driving innovation. In 1991 she was named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Beverages Division. Three years later, Rosenfeld was named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Desserts & Snacks Division.

In 1996, Rosenfeld became President of Kraft Canada, that nation’s largest packaged food company. In 2000, in addition to her responsibilities in Canada, she was named Group Vice President, Kraft Foods, and President of Operations, Technology and Procurement. In February 2001, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Information Systems were added to her responsibilities.

Among Rosenfeld's many accomplishments at Kraft, she led the highly successfully integration of the Nabisco acquisition. In addition, she has led the restructuring and turnaround of a number of key businesses. She also served on the senior team that led Kraft’s Initial Public Offering in 2001.