Hormel Foods Corporation announced the appointment of Scott Aakre as group vice president and chief marketing officer of the Hormel Foods retail business. The retail business includes the company’s portfolio of well-known and category-leading brands such as Planters®, Skippy®, Justin’s®, Dinty Moore®, Hormel® chili, Corn Nuts®, Herdez® and Wholly®, as well as its iconic SPAM® brand, among others. Aakre will assume responsibility for continuing to evolve the company’s brand portfolio to meet the changing needs of today’s consumers, amplifying scale in snacking and entertaining, and growing the company’s ethnic and food-forward portfolio.
Aakre most recently held the position of senior vice president of Brand Fuel, which includes the company’s innovation, consumer and shopper insights teams, as well as its Digital Experience Group, the e-commerce team that supports the company’s brands and businesses in the virtual marketplace.
Aakre joined Hormel Foods in 1990 and held a variety of brand and product management positions for the company before being named group product manager in 2003 and director of marketing later that year. In 2005, he was promoted to vice president of marketing for the company’s former grocery products division. He assumed the role of vice president of corporate innovation and new product development in 2011. In 2022, Aakre was named senior vice president of Brand Fuel.
Aakre earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Minnesota. He is involved in numerous industry groups and donates his time to several nonprofit organizations, including the United Way
The company also announced the appointment of Lisa Selk as senior vice president of Brand Fuel, the company's center of excellence focused on consumer insights and innovation for its portfolio of more than 30 leading brands. Selk replaces Scott Aakre, who was recently named group vice president and chief marketing officer for the Hormel Foods Retail business
In this role, Selk will oversee the Brand Fuel center of excellence, which is the company’s hub for innovation, consumer and shopper insights, brand diagnostics and technology. The center also houses the Digital Experience Group, the e-commerce and digital content team that supports the company's brands and businesses in the virtual marketplace.
Most recently, Selk served as vice president of Retail marketing for Convenient Meals and Proteins for Hormel Foods. In this role, she was responsible for the strategic marketing efforts for many of the company’s leading brands, including SPAM®, Skippy® peanut butter, Justin’s® nut butters and many more.
Selk began her career with Hormel Foods in 1998 as a food scientist in the research and development area and has since held brand management and innovation leadership roles in multiple divisions. She served as the marketing director over a portfolio of well-known Hormel Foods brands in the Grocery Products division before assuming leadership of the company’s former CytoSport business in 2017. Selk was named director of Hormel Health Labs and Century Foods International in 2019. She was promoted to vice president of marketing for Meat Products in 2020 and assumed her current role in 2022
A graduate of North Dakota State University, Selk received a bachelor’s degree in food science and a master’s degree in cereal science, followed by a master’s degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas. She has completed the Kellogg Executive Development Program at Northwestern University and earned a certificate from the Harvard Business School Executive Agribusiness Seminar.
In addition, the company announced the appointment of Lynn Egner as vice president of retail sales - West. Egner will be responsible for the company’s retail sales strategy and execution with the company’s customers in the Western Region of the United States. Egner replaces Natosha Walsh, who was recently named vice president of marketing for Convenient Meals and Proteins in the company’s Retail business.
Egner joined Hormel Foods in 1997 in the Foodservice sales organization and was quickly promoted to positions of increasing authority and reach, including at the national level. In 2014, she was promoted to director of distributor trade development for Foodservice and was named director of sales for Hormel Foods Deli Solutions in 2018. She assumed her current role of assistant vice president of Retail sales – West in 2022.
Egner graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in business. She is active in the community and in industry organizations.
Lastly, the company announced the appointment of Natosha Walsh as vice president of marketing for convenient meals and proteins within the company’s Retail business. Walsh will be responsible for the strategic marketing efforts for many of the company’s leading brands, including SPAM®, Skippy® peanut butter and Justin’s® nut butters. Most recently, Walsh served as vice president of Retail sales for national chains at Hormel Foods. Walsh replaces Lisa Selk, who was recently named senior vice president of Brand Fuel.
Walsh joined Hormel Foods in 1999. Throughout her career, she has held positions of increasing responsibility in brand management, sales, trade and category management, customer account leadership and supply chain. She was named vice president of sales in 2018 and assumed her current role in 2022.
Walsh graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in marketing and international business. Active in the community and in industry organizations, she serves on the board of the Women's Meat Industry Network and is currently the co-chair of Impact Austin
