After nearly eight years with Hershey Canada, Ola Machnowski is stepping away from her role as the confectionery and candy maker’s senior director, head of marketing.

In a LinkedIn post, Machnowski called the move a “bittersweet decision,” and thanked the leadership of the Canadian marketing team.

She said that now is the time to take the step toward “a highly innovative company and jump into new categories next week.”

With Hershey Canada, Machnowski lead a team of 35 multidisciplinary marketers across brand building, innovation, portfolio strategy, shopper and omni marketing, media and marketing excellence, analytics and insights. She had five direct reports, one director and four team leads and held full P&L accountability top to bottom across chocolate, candy and protein, and led Canadian creative and innovation.

Machnowski spearheaded the rollout of a Costco-exclusive Reese’s Dipped Animal Crackers to the Canadian market.

She also oversaw the launch of Reese’s Big Cup with Caramel, a king-sized confectionery innovation unveiled in the fall of 2023. She also supported the rollout of “Treat Quest,” gamified trick or treating on Snapchat.

Before taking on the lead marketing role at Hershey Canada, she was the CPG’s director, sales strategy and ecomm, leading a cross functional secondment to round out commercial skills and led Canada’s Digicom strategy across pureplay and omni channel ecommerce.

Prior to joining Hershey, Machnowski was Unilever Canada’s brand building manager, foods innovation and dressings.