Darwin Bratton Email & Phone Number

Hershey, Pa, Us

New York, Us

Lead R&D and Procurement functions for KIND North America. Responsible for all Product Development, Packaging Development, and Procurement activities. Key focus areas include launching new platforms/products, delivering cost savings initiatives, and organizational design and restructuring. Ownership and management of internal R&D/Procurement budget and external spend of $100MM+. • Led the development and launch of 75+ items in 2019 & 2020. Implemented new “ways of working” within the R&D team to ensure development and launches remained on track during Covid-19 pandemic.• Co-led, with VP of Marketing, building of $140M new product pipeline. Implemented “platform thinking” with launch of 8 new KIND platforms including Cereal, Oatmeal, Thins, and Dipped Clusters.• Delivered $15M Raw & Pack cost savings in 2019-2020 and identified additional $10M+ pipeline. • Provided R&D leadership on several M&A initiatives, including in-depth POV and recommendations during due diligence. Integration of R&D and Procurement functions after acquisition of Creative Snacks business. • Successfully implemented a revenue and margin focused R&D structure to ensure business and technical results. Promoted team members enabling them to play more strategic leadership roles.

Hershey, Pennsylvania, Us

Lead North American R&D for the $8.0B Hershey Company. Responsible for all technical aspects of the Chocolate, Sweets/Refreshment, and Snacks R&D programs. Key focus in developing new products and technologies to deliver 3.0% revenue growth from new innovations. Ownership and management of total R&D budget. Led team of 80 R&D professionals, with 6 direct reports. • Led the development and launch of the two largest new products in Hershey’s history, Cookie Layer Crunch & Hershey’s Gold. Both launches received industry innovation awards and delivered Year 1 revenue greater than $100M. • Co-led, with VP Innovation, building of $1.5B new product pipeline. Accelerated “platform thinking” resulting in greater than 60% of pipeline being priority platform launches. • Created Simple Ingredient strategy for Hershey to meet evolving consumer snacking demands. Implemented across the Hershey chocolate portfolio to deliver contemporized product offerings. • Partnered with Supply Chain to deliver $50M in annual cost savings and identified $200M+ pipeline. • Successfully designed and implemented new category-based R&D structure to ensure appropriate business focus and provide opportunities for staff to play more significant strategic and leadership roles.

Hershey, Pennsylvania, Us

Responsible for all upstream Research and Technology development functions for The Hershey Company, including Ingredient Research, Advanced Process Development, Open Innovation, Knowledge Management, Nutrition, and R&D Regulatory. Prepared and managed $10.0M budget. Led global team of 50 R&D professionals, with 6 manager and technical direct reports • Led transformation of the 50-person Hershey Food Research organization from a long-term research approach to a more focused, accelerated technology platform building mindset. Improved collaboration with business, resulting in reduced development speed to market cycle from 3 years to 18 months. • Established Technology Platform model to deliver competitively differentiated product, process, and packaging technologies, resulting in successful application in launches of Hershey’s Gold, Heat Resistant Hershey chocolate in SE Asia, and SoFit Crispy Chickpeas. • Initiated and advanced 30+ new technology projects within the Front of Funnel pipeline. Developed migration paths to advance key technologies to ensure readiness for 5-year new product/platform pipeline. • Led re-platform initiatives to modernize manufacturing processes for Brookside and Reese.

Greater Chicago Area, Il, Us

Led multiple Research functions for Mondelēz International’s $6.0B Global Gum and Candy category. Responsible for technology and people leadership of Ingredient Technology, Flavor Research, Open Innovation, and Packaging R&D Groups. Prepared and manage $8.0M G&A budget. Led global team of 30 R&D professionals, including 6 manager and technical direct reports.• Led development of Gum production “Line of the Future”, including product, process and packaging. Pilot line installed in Mexico facility. Resulted in improved efficiency while delivering consumer preferred product and packaging. • Developed Flavor Research strategy, including the execution of internal flavor optimization program and establishment of partnership with key suppliers resulting in optimized flavor library and cost reduction. • Established collaborative R&D technical community, focused on developing novel technologies and incorporating these technologies to deliver innovative and creative technical solutions.

Chicago, Il, Us

Packaging R&D lead for Kraft’s $10.0B Global Biscuit Category. Responsible for all strategic and technical packaging programs globally. Member of Global Biscuit and NA Biscuit Executive teams. Prepared and managed $10.0M G&A budget. Led 40 Packaging professionals, including 6 direct manager reports.• Through combination of rigid and packaging packages, developed and launched packs for $500M annual global new product launches. • Led complex implementation of Snack ‘n Seal package innovation across global biscuit category (Europe and Latin America) to significantly improve consumer brand value and drive revenue growth.• Drove global initiatives to deliver significant margin improvement. Key programs include global packaging harmonization and package material/asset optimization. Consistently exceeds productivity target by delivering over $25.0M annually in package cost savings.

Chicago, Il, Us

Responsible for strategy and execution of all packaging R&D activities for Kraft’s $6.0B Snacks and Cereal Division. Prepared and managed $7.0M G&A budget and 35 Packaging Development professionals. • Launched new Snack ‘n Seal Package innovation for cookie category to significantly improve consumer brand value and drive revenue growth (+5%). Package won prestigious Dupont industry award. • Led initiatives to drive business simplification, through packaging harmonization, specification reduction, and de-complexity. Delivered $10.0+M in cost savings. • Led glass to plastic packaging conversion across Planters portfolio resulting in $7.0M cost savings.

Chicago, Il, Us

Growth platform strategic lead. Responsible for R&D “white space” programs across the $4.0B Biscuit Division. Provided leadership on application of technologies to deliver key new product platforms. Prepared and managed $3.0M G&A budget and 20 Product Development professionals. • Spearheaded the application of innovative ingredients and process technologies to enable the development of 4 new Biscuit platforms. Launched 15 new products within these platforms to deliver incremental sales. Launches include: Nabisco 100 Calorie packs, Carbwell cookies, Honey Maid Snack Bars, and Ritz Chips. • Aligned business and research functions to develop technical roadmaps ensuring long-term technology insulation and advancement. • Successfully delivered 10 Biscuit products during the implementation of two multi-category company-wide initiatives, South Beach Diet and Back-To- Nature.

Chicago, Il, Us

Technical lead for the $2.0B Nabisco Biscuit Cookie Category. Key technical member of the Cookie Category Business Team. Provided leadership in the utilization of technologies and processes to deliver new and improved cookie products. Prepared and managed $2.7M budget and 18 Product Development professionals.• Successfully launched 20 new products and line extensions ($250M+ annually) • Developed a comprehensive 3-year Cookies technology pipeline, which included new products, line extensions, and quality improvements. • Developed cookie candy platform. Successfully launched Oreo, Peanut Butter and Caramel Cookie Barz. to defend cookie aisle against competition

Chicago, Il, Us

Technical lead to for the $1.8B Nabisco Biscuit Cracker business. Responsible for new products, line extensions, and quality initiatives. Member of the Cracker Category Business Team. • Successfully launched 15-20 new products and line extensions ($190M+ annually). • Developed and maintained rolling $400M+ pipeline of consumer quantified new product ideas. • Restructured 14-person staff around “Centers of Excellence”.

Responsible for execution of product development projects across numerous Nabisco brands (Milk-Bone, Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, Royal, A1 and Grey Poupon).

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Food Science

Master Of Business Administration - Mba, Finance