Kraft Heinz names new chief growth officer

Name: Diana Frost

New title: Chief growth officer, North America Zone

Previous title: Head of North America disruption and Canada chief marketing officer

In her new role, Frost will be in charge of where marketing and innovation intersect for the company’s largest geographic segment. She will oversee The Kitchen, Kraft Heinz’s in-house marketing agency, and manage the company’s digital, personalization and paid media teams. She will also work toward growing the company’s internal innovation engine.

Frost has been with Kraft Heinz for two years, previously serving as its chief growth officer for the Canada division and then head of North America disruption and chief marketing officer for Canada. She came to Kraft Heinz after 12 years at Mars, where she held several leadership roles in marketing and innovation. Before that, she worked at PepsiCo.

“Since day one at Kraft Heinz, Diana’s expertise in disruptive innovation, ESG and M&A have been an asset across the organization — and her commitment to activating agility at scale has quickly transformed the way we work,” Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Kraft Heinz executive vice president and president of North America, said in a written statement.

In her previous role, Frost worked deeply in the Kraft Heinz joint venture with NotCo, which is using its artificial intelligence technology to create co-branded plant-based products that will be manufactured made with the CPG giant’s scale. Items from this joint venture are slated to hit stores later this year.

In the last two years, Kraft Heinz has completely redefined its strategy, focusing more on what consumers need and how they interact with its products. In an interview with AdAge about her new role, Frost said Kraft Heinz is working to shatter the expectation that big CPGs move slowly when it comes to innovation. Growth, she told the publication, is intrinsically tied to innovation, which is a big part of marketing.

“We’re looking at innovation across the board,” she told the publication. “And it’s beyond just product — it’s business model and experiences. And it’s also across renovation, line extensions and disruption. And then that ties hand-in-hand with creativity, and being consumer obsessed. We talk about communication at the speed of culture, and creating engaging personalized experiences, and leveraging data to drive brand relevance in our iconic brands.”