Amanda Almond will become President, International at The Hershey Company on Oct. 12, succeeding Rohit Grover, who spent 27 years with the snack giant including eight as its international chief. The appointment signals Hershey's intent to accelerate growth across the roughly 65 countries where it sells brands like Reese's, Kit Kat, and SkinnyPop.
Her Background
Almond arrives with more than 30 years of consumer goods and retail experience, most recently as regional managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Vinarchy, the Bain Capital-backed global wine company, where she oversaw a region spanning 57 markets. Before Vinarchy, she spent 12 years at Bacardi in progressively senior regional leadership roles. That spirits-and-wine pedigree is notable: executives who have navigated complex, fragmented international markets in beverage alcohol often bring category-building and route-to-market discipline that translates directly to confection and snack expansion. For operators and retail buyers watching Hershey's international assortment, her track record of scaling brands in diverse regulatory and cultural environments suggests a commercially focused approach to portfolio prioritization abroad.
What It Means for Operators
Hershey generates more than $11.7 billion in annual revenues and markets more than 85 brands globally. For foodservice and hospitality buyers, leadership continuity on the international side matters: Hershey's confection lines appear in hotel minibars, airline amenity kits, and resort retail across dozens of markets, and its salty-snack brands — SkinnyPop, Pirate's Booty, LesserEvil — have expanded their hospitality-channel presence in recent years. A new international president with a mandate to "accelerate growth" could reshape distributor relationships and promotional investment in key regions.
Kirk Tanner, president and CEO of The Hershey Company, cited Almond's "track record of scaling and growing businesses" and her ability to build high-performance cultures. Almond will be based in Hershey's U.K. office and will work alongside the existing International Leadership Team during the transition. Grover's exit after nearly three decades closes a significant chapter; his tenure covered Hershey's expansion into markets that now form the backbone of its international segment.
Almond holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from the University of Edinburgh and has completed advanced retail and leadership studies at the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School. Her academic profile aligns with the kind of structured, data-driven market strategy that large consumer goods companies increasingly rely on for international portfolio decisions — a dynamic covered in our beverage industry analysis as spirits and snack brands compete for the same global shelf space.
The leadership change is worth tracking for anyone in the restaurant and hospitality supply chain, particularly as global snack and confection brands refine their foodservice go-to-market strategies in post-pandemic travel and entertainment environments.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
