Hershey CEO West leaves for Del Monte Foods

Hershey’s CEO David West is leaving the company to head Del Monte Foods. Operations chief John Bilbrey will take the helm temporarily and will work quickly to find a permanent replace, according to a statement released by the US chocolate manufacturer. A group led by KKR bought Del Monte Foods in March for about $5 billion (€3.5bn)

West will join Del Monte in August. “After 10 years with the company, West felt it was the right time to take on the next challenge,” says Kirk Saville, a spokesman for Hershey.

Temporary replacement Bilbrey became operations chief last year, and helped establish Hershey brand products globally, according to the statement. The company got about 15% of its $5.7 billion (€4bn) in revenue from outside the US last year.