Former Campbell's CEO to discuss leadership

The former president and CEO of The Campbell Soup Company, who was credited with turning the company around, will give a presentation at Grand Valley as part of the Peter F. Secchia Breakfast Lecture series in the Seidman College of Business.

Doug Conant, who was CEO of Campbell's for 10 years, will give a speech, "35 Years in the Rearview Mirror: Life Lessons from the Corporate Journey," November 6, from 8-9 a.m. in the L. William Seidman Center in Grand Rapids. Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. 

Conant is a New York Times bestselling author with more than 35 years of leadership experience at global companies. In 2011, he founded ConantLeadership, a growing community of people dedicated to improving the quality of leadership. He also serves as chairman of the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute at Northwestern University, as well as chairman of Avon Products.

From 2001-2011, Conant served as CEO and president of The Campbell Soup Company. He transformed the global leadership team, reconfigured the portfolio, cut costs and made strategic investments. The changes resulted in cumulative shareholder returns in the top tier of the global food industry. Under his leadership, employee engagement went from being among the worst in the Fortune 500 to being consistently among the best.

Conant has also served as president of Nabisco and worked for General Mills and Kraft Foods.