The Hershey Company has hired its first chief technology officer, a man who previously worked for the online retail giant, Amazon.
Deepak Bhatia also will be a member of the company’s executive committee.
Bhatia, of Seattle, Washington, is formerly the vice president of supply chain optimization technologies at Amazon, the company said in a news release. His first day at Hershey will be Oct. 23.
“Bhatia will lead the company’s global technology strategy, architecting and deploying digital capabilities that are innovative, flexible and prepared to meet the changing needs of Hershey’s consumers, retail partners and employees,” The Hershey Company said.
Hershey said Bhatia has expertise “in developing cutting-edge automated systems, supply chain planning, optimization and simulation, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics.”
Michele Buck, The Hershey Company president and CEO said, “… Deepak has the expertise needed to successfully lead our technology strategy leveraging end-to-end data, analytics and automation to elevate our employee experience, create commercial value and advance our leading snacking powerhouse vision.”
Bhatia was at Amazon for 12 years and previously worked for 11 years at Applied Materials, according to Hershey
He has a master’s degree in management science and engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from Purdue University.
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