Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. has appointed Kevin Zidron as Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer and Brad Hartzell as Chief Supply Chain Officer, the cooperative announced September 21. The dual hires arrive as CEO Abigail Buckwalter — several months into her tenure — moves to sharpen how the iconic cranberry brand translates strategy into measurable results across a global product portfolio spanning more than 100 countries.
The Appointments
Zidron comes to Ocean Spray from a career that ran through Nestlé Health Science, Vital Proteins, and Kraft Heinz, where he led enterprise strategy, commercial transformation, and growth initiatives across North American and global consumer businesses. In his new role, he will own enterprise strategy, transformation, value capture, project management, and commercial insights — a broad mandate that positions him as the primary architect of how the cooperative sets and pursues its long-term priorities.
Hartzell takes over a supply chain function that has been led by Earl Larson for nearly 22 years; Larson will retire at the end of September. Hartzell brings more than 25 years of manufacturing and operational leadership, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Beauty & Body Solutions at KDC/ONE Development Corporation and previously as Chief Operating Officer at NovaTaste. His earlier 18-year tenure at International Flavors & Fragrances — culminating in VP of Operations, Flavors North America — gives him deep ingredient-side supply chain fluency. He holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and began his career in the U.S. Navy.
What It Signals for Operators
For buyers, distributors, and foodservice operators who source Ocean Spray products — juice, cranberry ingredients, dried fruit, and private-label derivatives — this leadership structure suggests the cooperative is prioritizing supply chain stability and commercial execution simultaneously. Hartzell's ingredient-side background at IFF and NovaTaste is worth noting: operators who depend on cranberry-based components in sauces, bakery, beverage, or functional food applications will want to monitor whether his operational focus accelerates capacity investment or reshapes procurement terms.
Zidron's remit over "value capture" and commercial strategy is similarly telling. Cooperatives of Ocean Spray's scale — roughly 700 family farm owners across the U.S., Canada, and Chile — face persistent tension between farmer returns and competitive pricing in retail and foodservice channels. Adding a dedicated transformation officer with CPG brand experience at Kraft Heinz signals that Buckwalter is building the internal capability to move on pricing strategy, channel mix, and operational efficiency without waiting for a slow consensus cycle.
Takeaway for the Trade
The timing against the annual cranberry harvest season is not incidental. Harvest is when supply chain decisions made months earlier either hold or fracture. Installing a new supply chain chief at this moment is a calculated signal to farmer-owners, retail buyers, and foodservice partners that operational accountability is a priority, not a placeholder. Operators relying on Ocean Spray for seasonal and limited-time beverage programming or foodservice ingredient procurement should treat this as an inflection point worth tracking into 2027 planning cycles.
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.
