Dive Brief:
- Food manufacturer Mondelēz International appointed Filippo Catalano as chief information and digital officer, the company said Tuesday. Catalano will join the organization later this year, reporting directly to Chair and CEO Dirk Van de Put.
- Catalano most recently served as chief information and digitisation officer at consumer packaged goods company Reckitt. Prior, he was global CIO at Nestlé for nearly three years, leading technology platform transformation for the food industry giant.
- Catalano replaces Javier Polit, previously CIO at Mondelēz International. Polit, appointed in 2020, joined Costco as its chief information and digital officer.
Dive Insight:
Mondelēz is the most recent business to appoint a senior technology executive to its C-suite this summer.
Gap, PayPal, Citi and Little Caesars are among the businesses overhauling tech leadership structures since June. Analysts attribute the midyear leadership shuffle to fiscal year timing and the fast-moving technology development cycle of the last year and a half.
When appointing new executives to lead digital efforts, organizations often seek professionals with a track record of industry-specific achievements. In addition to executive stints at Reckitt and Nestlé, Catalano spent more than 16 years at Procter & Gamble across multiple technology leadership positions.
“Filippo’s track record in driving digital transformation in leading consumer packaged goods companies will provide strong leadership to step-change the digital evolution of our business,” Van de Put said in the announcement.
Polit also joined the company after several years as CIO at Procter & Gamble. Prior, Polit served as group CIO at The Coca-Cola Company, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Mondelēz, which manufactures brands like Oreo, Ritz and Clif Bar, operates an accelerator to boost early-stage companies. This year, the CoLab Tech accelerator program is working with food startups developing nutrition, ingredients, packaging and sustainability innovations.
