Jeffrey Harmening
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
2017 – Present
9 years (current)
Key Decisions & Impact
Taking over as CEO in 2017, Jeffrey Harmening recognized that the company's traditional cereal and yogurt businesses were facing long-term structural stagnation due to changing consumer dietary preferences. To reignite growth, he orchestrated the bold, defining move of his tenure: the $8 billion acquisition of Blue Buffalo in 2018. This transaction radically altered the company's trajectory, pivoting General Mills into the lucrative, high-growth premium pet food category. He also prioritized portfolio reshaping, systematically divesting underperforming international operations to fund the pet food expansion and pay down the debt incurred by the acquisition.
Legacy
Harmening is widely credited with modernizing the General Mills portfolio and preventing the company from slipping into permanent irrelevance as consumer tastes shifted away from traditional processed foods. While his early tenure was marked by severe investor skepticism regarding the premium paid for Blue Buffalo, the subsequent explosive growth of the pet food division has largely vindicated his strategic vision. He has transformed General Mills from a slow-growing cereal manufacturer into a more dynamic, diversified consumer products conglomerate.