Dave Hulays takes the top finance seat at The Hershey Company effective September 2, 2026, succeeding Steve Voskuil in a planned handoff that keeps financial leadership firmly inside the house. Hulays spent the last 14 years inside Hershey's finance organization after 15 years at Procter & Gamble, giving him cross-functional depth across supply chain, M&A, corporate FP&A, global tax and treasury, and enterprise transformation — a profile that signals Hershey is prioritizing operational rigor over outside disruption at the CFO level.
What the Transition Signals
For suppliers, distributors, and foodservice operators who do business with one of North America's largest confectionery manufacturers, an internal CFO succession typically means continuity in procurement philosophy and vendor relationships in the near term. Voskuil, who led Hershey's finance function for seven years, moves into an SVP, Strategic Projects role reporting to the CEO and board — a structure that keeps institutional memory in place through early 2027 while Hulays fully assumes operating authority. That overlap period is intentional and worth noting: major capital allocation decisions, supply contracts, and trade spend frameworks are unlikely to see abrupt revision while the transition is live.
What Operators Should Watch
Hulays's background spans Hershey's Growth Office, M&A, and International businesses — functions that directly shape how the company deploys trade investment, licenses product, and pursues distribution expansion. Operators in convenience, grocery, and foodservice channels who carry Hershey SKUs should expect any strategic pricing or promotional adjustments to be gradual rather than reactive. His supply chain finance experience is also relevant: ingredient cost volatility — particularly cocoa — has been a defining pressure across the confectionery category, and a CFO with deep supply chain fluency suggests Hershey will continue to manage those headwinds through structured financial instruments rather than pass-through pricing alone.
For vendors and agencies pitching into Hershey's marketing and growth budgets, the appointment of an enterprise-minded internal operator suggests that brand investment and media strategy will remain tightly tied to measurable financial outcomes. Hershey under Voskuil leaned into disciplined capital deployment; there is little in Hulays's profile to suggest that posture changes in the near term. CEO Kirk Tanner described Hulays as someone who "leads with rigor, accountability and courage" — language that tracks with a finance organization unlikely to loosen spend thresholds for unproven channels.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
