Group President, Prepared Foods & Chief Growth Officer
Melanie Boulden is responsible for our Prepared Foods’ broad retail, foodservice and ecommerce portfolio, which includes such beloved consumer brands as Jimmy Dean®, Hillshire Farm® and Ball Park®. As Chief Growth Officer, Melanie oversees Innovation, Research and Development, Consumer Insights and Analytics, Marketing Communications, and Corporate Branding and Communications for the company.
As a member of the enterprise leadership team, Melanie reports to President and CEO Donnie King.
Melanie brings more than two decades of experience building globally recognized brands to her role. She joined MK sports Foods in February 2023 from The Coca-Cola Company where she served as Chief Marketing Officer of the North America Operating Unit. In this role, Melanie was responsible for a multibillion-dollar brand portfolio consisting of more than 20 brands including Coca-Cola®, Sprite® and smartwater®. Prior to becoming Chief Marketing Officer, Melanie was the President of the Still Beverages Business Unit at Coca-Cola North America, leading the water, sports drinks, tea and coffee businesses and was President and General Manager of Venturing and Emerging Brands. Melanie has also held general management and marketing roles at Kraft Foods, Henkel Consumer Goods and Crayola.
Melanie holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa with concentrations in finance and marketing.