Belcourt and Rucker take top roles at Kraft Foods

NEW Foundation sponsor Kraft Foods Inc. has named two women to top-level roles as it prepares to spin off its North American grocery business.

Tracey Belcourt, a partner at Bain & Co., will join the consumer goods company in September, serving as executive vice president, strategy. She will lead the strategy function and mergers and acquisition activities for Kraft’s new global snacks company, Mondelez International Inc., following the expected spin-off of Kraft's North American grocery business, Kraft Foods Group Inc. In this role, Belcourt will report to Mondelez Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld, with responsibility for evolving and implementing the company's growth strategy.

"Tracey is a highly accomplished corporate strategist with extensive background in consumer industries,” Rosenfeld said. "She has broad international work experience throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. She joins us at an exciting time, as we chart the course for our new global snacks company.”

Belcourt has been a partner at Bain & Co. in Toronto since 1999, leading teams that specialized in the design and implementation of growth strategies to improve business performance across a variety of consumer industries.

In July, Kraft announced the hiring of Kim Rucker, an Avon executive, to the position of executive vice president, corporate and legal affairs for Kraft Foods North America. She will join the company in late August and lead the legal, corporate governance and corporate affairs functions. Upon launch of Kraft Foods Group Inc. later this year, Rucker will become executive vice president, corporate and legal affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary. She will report to North America President and future Kraft Foods Group CEO Tony Vernon.

"Kim's extensive experience providing strong strategic and legal counsel to boards of directors, CEOs and executive teams of large public companies will be invaluable as we become a stand-alone entity,” Vernon said. "Her broad and deep background in law and corporate governance, plus her knowledge of the cpg sector, make her an important asset to our team. I look forward to working closely with Kim as we become a world-class public company and North America's favorite food and beverage business.”