William F. Christ, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Hershey Foods Corporation (NYSE: HSY), yesterday announced that George F. Davis has been named Vice President and Chief Information Officer. In this position, Davis will report to Christ and will be responsible for the Corporation’s Information Technology Integration group, the Enterprise Solutions Center, e-business/e-commerce, and EDI activities.

Davis comes to Hershey from Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) where he served as Vice President – Global Infrastructure Services. In this position, he was responsible for developing a strategic information services plan for a major client aligning information technology with business goals as well as for global strategic architecture and standards, including e-commerce strategies for Internet, Intranet, business-to-business Extranet and web hosting. Prior to CSC, Davis served as Executive Director – Global Infrastructure & Financial Systems at Pratt & Whitney, Chief Information Officer at Rocco, Inc., and Director – Corporate Information Services at JP Foodservice, Inc. In addition, Davis held various positions with Black & Decker and Avon Products Inc.

In announcing Davis’ appointment, Christ said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome George to Hershey. Over the past several years, we have completed our implementation of a new enterprise-wide information system designed to make the Corporation more competitive through lower costs, better customer service and increased sales. We also have moved forward with efforts to take advantage of e-business and e-commerce opportunities created by the growth of the Internet. George’s knowledge and broad experience will be invaluable as we work to harness the full potential of these efforts.”

Davis, a native of Kittery, Maine, received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Connecticut and served four years in the United States Air Force. He and his wife, Mary, have two daughters.