(By Balaseshan) Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE:SLE) said Sally Grimes would become chief innovation officer of Hillshire Brands Co., its North American business, after the spin-off of its International Coffee and Tea business.
Grimes will be responsible for the company's innovation process, including identifying strategies, business opportunities and new technologies and then developing new capabilities with partners, new business models and new industry structures to serve those opportunities.
Grimes, on July 9, would join Hillshire Brands, which will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "HSH". She would report to Sean Connolly, chief executive officer, Hillshire Brands Co.
Most recently, Grimes was global vice president, marketing, writing and creative expression GBU at Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. She was responsible for implementing marketing planning and filling the innovation pipeline for the Sharpie, Paper Mate, Expo, Prismacolor and Rolodex brands.
Previously, Sara Lee said it would become two independent pure-play, publicly-traded companies on June 28, 2012. D.E MASTER BLENDERS 1753 will focus on international coffee and tea and Hillshire Brands will focus on meat-centric food products and foodservice operations.
The new name - Hillshire Brands - will become effective after the June 28 spin-off. The Hillshire name was inspired by the Hillshire Farm brand, which Sara Lee acquired in 1971. After the spin-off, Hillshire Brands' Foodservice division will continue to be known as "Sara Lee Foodservice".
SLE is trading down 1.26% at $18.82 on Friday. The stock has been trading between $15.66 and $22.35 for the past 52 weeks.