General Mills Names Dana McNabb CEO as Food Giant Targets Return to Profitable Growth

General Mills has named Dana McNabb as its next chief executive, putting a 27 year company veteran in charge of one of the world's largest packaged food businesses as it works to restore profitable growth.

McNabb, currently chief operating officer, will become chief executive on January 1, 2027. Current chief executive Jeff Harmening will move to executive chair of the board on the same date.

The appointment places McNabb in control of a company whose brands include Cheerios, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo, Haagen Dazs, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker and Totino's.

General Mills generated about US$18 billion in fiscal 2026 net sales, with another US$1 billion of net sales attributable to non consolidated joint ventures.

McNabb currently oversees all four operating segments as well as sales, supply chain, innovation, technology and quality. Her earlier roles included leading North America Retail, North America Pet, Europe and Australia, U.S. cereal and global cereal marketing.

In announcing the transition, McNabb said returning General Mills to profitable growth is the priority and identified digitally enabled demand generation and supply chain modernization as two operating priorities.

The succession follows a period of difficult conditions for packaged food producers, including cautious consumer spending, private label competition and pressure to balance pricing with unit volume.

The leadership change is therefore more than a routine succession. General Mills is handing control of a global food portfolio to an internal operator whose immediate mandate is to improve growth while modernizing how the company markets, manufactures and moves its products.