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Corner Office Shifts: Promotions and hires at Kraft Heinz, Roots

By Justin Dallaire
November 6, 2018

New president at Kraft Heinz Canada

Effective Jan. 1, Nina Barton will be replacing Carlos Piani as president of Kraft Heinz Canada.

Originally from Canada, Barton has been working out of Kraft Heinz’s co-headquarters in Chicago for more than a year as president of global digital online growth. As part of that role, she is responsible for leading all global Kraft Heinz ecommerce platforms, as well as its broader digital transformation, new online businesses and its joint venture, Mealtime Stories, with Oprah Winfrey (launched in 2017). She keeps those global duties in addition to her new responsibilities in Canada.

Meanwhile, Piani, who has held the title of president for the Canada zone for the last three years, moves into the new role of head of strategic initiatives and mergers and acquisitions, based out of Chicago. He will report directly to Kraft Heinz CEO Bernardo Hees.

New chief of ecommerce and VP of marketing at Roots

Clothing retailer Roots Canada has promoted James Connell to the newly created role of chief of ecommerce and customer experience officer.

Earlier this year, the Roots veteran moved into the VP of ecommerce and customer experience role after having served as VP of ecommerce and marketing since 2011. That move was accompanied by the bringing on of former PepsiCo Canada marketer Mangala D’Sa as Roots’ VP of marketing. D’Sa left shortly after having started in the role.

In his new role, Connell takes on greater oversight for the brand’s omnichannel and ecommerce programs, as well as revenue growth and operations. In a previous interview, D’Sa told strategy that ecommerce had been “tagged as one of the key growth engines for the organization,” as the company looks to grow its global footprint.

Along with Connell’s promotion, Karen Zuccala joins Roots as VP of marketing after a stint as a marketing director of brand experience at Nike. Her prior experience includes time at apparel brands Adidas and Diesel. Before that, she was director of brand and communications strategy planning at Anomaly in Toronto.