Kraft loses VP global media post job cuts

KRAFT   LAYOFFS   MARK STEWART

Global - Mark Stewart, vice president, global media at Kraft Foods, is leaving the company weeks after the company announced that it will cut 1,600 positions in the US and Canada.

The move to slash jobs in North America this year comes ahead of a move to split its business into two separate groups.

Stewart (pictured) joined the company in 2009 from Omnicom's OMD, where he had held the titles of managing director, OMD East, and global client and strategy director. He also spent a number of years in senior-level roles at Interpublic Group-owned Universal McCann and McCann Erickson.

Kraft works with Publicis' Starcom MediaVest Group and Horizon on various buying and planning duties in the U.S.

The American confectionary giant plans to separate into two public companies, one focused on its snacks businesses, the other on its grocery businesses.

The cuts represent about 3.5 % of Kraft's US workforce and will affect mostly sales positions. The company has 127,000 workers around the world.

In December, the company announced that Irene Rosenfeld will run the $31bn snacks business and Tony Vernon, who has led Kraft's North American business since joining the group in 2009, will run the grocery business.

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