USA: CEOS of World’s major food companies Join GMA Board; Nabisco Biscuit President to be Chair of GMA Industry Affairs Council

The Grocery Manufacturers of America Board of Directors, during its annual meeting at the GMA Executive Conference, welcomed six executives as new members: Bart Becht, CEO, Reckitt Benckiser plc; Douglas N. Daft, Chairman & CEO, The Coca-Cola Company; H. Robert Hawthorne, President & CEO, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.; Betsy D. Holden, President & CEO, Kraft Foods, Inc.; David W. Johnson, Chairman & CEO, Campbell Soup Company; C. Steven McMillan, President & CEO, Sara Lee Corporation.Board officers joining GMA Chairman Robert Rich, Jr., President, Rich Products Corporation, for the next year include Vice Chairman Stephen W. Sanger, Chairman & CEO, General Mills, Inc.; Treasurer Joe M. Weller, Chairman & CEO, Nestle USA, Inc.; and Secretary James M. Kilts, President &CEO, Nabisco, Inc.In other news, Richard H. Lenny, President, Nabisco Biscuit Company, will serve as chairman of GMA's Industry Affairs Council. The IAC, which is composed of CEOs and Presidents of North American business units, helps set goals and determine priorities and long-term strategy for GMA's Industry Affairs group. Lenny is also a member of the FMI/GMA E-Commerce Joint Industry Executive Committee.GMA is the world's largest association of food, beverage and consumer product companies. With U.S. sales of more than $460 billion, GMA members employ more than 2.5 million workers in all 50 states. The organization applies legal, scientific and political expertise from its member companies to vital food, nutrition and public policy issues affecting the industry. Led by a board of 44 Chief Executive Officers, GMA speaks for food and consumer product manufacturers at the state, federal and international levels on legislative and regulatory issues. The association also leads efforts to increase productivity, efficiency and growth in the food, beverage and consumer products industry.