Hormel Announces Three New Appointments in Leadership

Hormel Foods has appointed Scott Aakre as group vice president and chief marketing officer of the company’s Retail Business, Natosha Walsh as vice president of marketing for Convenient Meals and Proteins, and Lynn Egner as vice president of Retail Sales – West.

Aakre most recently held the position of senior vice president of Brand Fuel, which includes the company’s innovation, consumer and shopper insights teams, as well as its Digital Experience Group, the e-commerce team that supports the company’s brands and businesses in the virtual marketplace.

Aakre joined Hormel Foods in 1990 and held a variety of brand and product management positions for the company before being named group product manager in 2003 and director of marketing later that year. In 2005, he was promoted to vice president of marketing for the company’s former Grocery Products division. He assumed the role of vice president of corporate innovation and new product development in 2011. In 2022, he was named senior vice president of Brand Fuel.

The Retail business includes well-known brands such as Planters, Skippy, Justin’s, Dinty Moore, Hormel chili, Corn Nuts, Herdez and Wholly, as well as its iconic SPAM brand and others. Aakre will assume responsibility for continuing to evolve the company’s brand portfolio to meet the changing needs of today’s consumers, amplifying scale in snacking and entertaining, and growing the company’s ethnic and food-forward portfolio.

“Scott brings more than 30 years of brand innovation, business acumen and marketing leadership to this role, which is critical to our long-term strategy,” said Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Hormel Foods. “Scott understands what fuels our brands and how to apply innovation and insights to unlock value in the consumer marketplace.”

Walsh joined Hormel Foods in 1999. Throughout her career, she has held positions of increasing responsibility in brand management, sales, trade and category management, customer account leadership and supply chain. She was named vice president of sales in 2018 and assumed her current role in 2022.

Walsh will be responsible for the strategic marketing efforts for many of the company’s leading brands. Most recently, Walsh served as vice president of Retail sales for national chains at Hormel. Walsh replaces Lisa Selk, who was recently named senior vice president of Brand Fuel.

“Natosha has extensive sales and marketing experience and has been an outstanding leader in the Retail organization,” said Snee. “Natosha understands the continually changing consumer and customer landscape as we focus on the continued growth of this very important brand portfolio.”

Egner will be responsible for the company’s retail sales strategy and execution with the company’s customers in the Western Region of the US. Egner replaces Natosha Walsh, who was recently named vice president of marketing for Convenient Meals and Proteins in the company’s Retail business.

Egner joined Hormel Foods in 1997 in the Foodservice sales organization and was quickly promoted to positions of increasing authority and reach, including at the national level. In 2014, she was promoted to director of distributor trade development for Foodservice and was named director of sales for Hormel Foods Deli Solutions in 2018. She assumed her current role of assistant vice president of Retail Sales – West in 2022.

“Lynn has been instrumental in building valuable relationships with our customer partners across the Retail sales organization,” said Snee. “Lynn is a proven people leader who will continue to build a team that brings a strategic, dynamic and analytical approach to the marketplace with our portfolio of leading brands.”