In an era where digital agility can make or break a global brand, even a 130-year-old confectionery giant like The Hershey Company must reinvent itself from the inside out to stay ahead of consumer expectations and complex market dynamics. At the heart of this pivotal transformation is Chief Information Officer Gene Kholodenko, a leader tasked not just with modernizing technology, but with fundamentally reimagining its role within the iconic organization. His mission is to steer Hershey’s IT function from a traditional support role into a powerful, proactive engine for strategic growth, ensuring the company’s sweet success for decades to come.
From Candy Maker to Tech-Powered Snacking Leader
At The Hershey Company, the evolution from a beloved candy maker to a dominant, multi-category snacking leader requires more than just new products; it demands a new way of thinking. Gene Kholodenko’s role is central to embedding this digital-first mindset into the company’s DNA. He is spearheading a strategic overhaul of Information Services (IS), repositioning the department as an indispensable partner that co-creates value with every business unit. This approach is designed to infuse technology into the core of Hershey’s operations, from manufacturing and supply chain to marketing and sales.
This strategic shift is critical to fulfilling Hershey’s ambitious growth agenda. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and data-driven insights, the company aims to accelerate innovation, enhance operational excellence, and respond to shifting consumer tastes with unprecedented speed and precision. Kholodenko’s vision ensures that technology is not merely a tool but the foundational enabler of a more agile, resilient, and competitive enterprise, capable of leading the global snacking market.
Setting the Stage for Digital Transformation
When Kholodenko was appointed in early 2024, he stepped into an organization already on a path toward modernization. His mandate was not to start from scratch but to accelerate this journey, injecting a renewed sense of urgency and strategic focus. He was tasked with building upon existing initiatives and galvanizing the enterprise to move faster and think bigger about the role of technology in its future.
The business imperative for this accelerated transformation was clear. To maintain its competitive edge in a rapidly evolving consumer-packaged goods (CPG) landscape, Hershey needed to cultivate a digital-first culture. This required developing enhanced data capabilities to unlock deeper consumer insights, building scalable technology platforms to support global growth, and fostering an environment where innovation could thrive. The goal was to create a technological ecosystem robust enough to support a global powerhouse yet agile enough to outmaneuver more nimble competitors.
The Four Pillars of Hershey’s IT Modernization
Under Kholodenko’s leadership, Hershey has developed a cohesive, multi-faceted strategy that redefines IT as a critical business driver. This framework is built upon four central pillars, each designed to address a key aspect of the transformation, from foundational infrastructure to organizational culture. Together, they form a comprehensive blueprint for embedding technology and data into every facet of the business.
Modernizing the Data and Analytics Foundation
The cornerstone of Hershey’s strategy is the creation of a powerful “digital backbone” capable of supporting global operations and advanced automation. A key initiative in this area has been the migration to SAP S/4 HANA, a unified platform that standardizes and streamlines critical processes like procurement, inventory management, and finance. This creates a single source of truth across the enterprise, providing the consistency needed for automation at scale.
Beyond this core system, Hershey is making significant investments in predictive analytics platforms that harness artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital twins. These sophisticated tools are being deployed to optimize demand planning, maximize the return on trade spend, and build greater resilience into the supply chain. Ultimately, Kholodenko’s objective is to empower front-line workers by putting data-driven insights directly into their hands, enabling them to make faster, more informed decisions that accelerate everything from product development to in-market execution.
Integrating Robust Risk Management
Rather than treating risk management as a restrictive afterthought, Hershey’s strategy embeds governance directly into the fabric of daily business processes. This proactive approach fosters a culture of intelligent and informed decision-making across the enterprise. It moves away from a siloed compliance function toward a model of shared accountability, where business leaders become active partners in navigating potential risks.
This integrated framework promotes transparency and streamlines approvals, allowing the company to innovate with both speed and confidence. By ensuring that safety, security, and responsibility are built into its processes from the start, Hershey can bring new products and experiences to market quickly without compromising its commitment to consumers. As Kholodenko articulates, sound policies and risk management are what “allow you to both innovate and come to market quickly in a way that is safe, secure and responsible.”
Cultivating a Collaborative and Skilled Workforce
Recognizing that technology is only as effective as the people who use it, a major focus of the transformation is on cultivating human capital. Kholodenko has actively worked to dismantle the organizational silos that have historically separated IT from other business functions. A key tactic has been embedding IT leaders directly within cross-functional teams, ensuring they are deeply aligned with shared business objectives and outcomes.
This structural change is complemented by a comprehensive upskilling and talent acquisition strategy. Hershey has rolled out continuous learning programs, targeted training in emerging technologies like AI, and digital benchmark education to equip its workforce for future challenges. This approach combines the development of internal talent with strategic external hiring and partnerships, creating a dynamic and skilled team capable of driving Hershey’s digital agenda forward.
Fostering an Agile and Empowered IT Culture
Transforming the internal culture of the IT organization itself has been another critical pillar of Kholodenko’s strategy. This effort began with the foundational work of reducing technical debt and migrating away from rigid, legacy systems toward more flexible and scalable modern platforms. This cleanup was essential to create the capacity for genuine agility and innovation.
A significant cultural shift has been the promotion of “embracing fast failures,” which creates a psychologically safe environment for teams to experiment and learn without fear of reprisal. To accelerate execution, approval processes have been streamlined and decision-making authority has been delegated to the lowest responsible level. This empowerment allows teams to act decisively, shortening project timelines and enabling them to better balance the need for both customized solutions and enterprise-wide scale.
The Hershey Difference Integrating People Process and Platforms
What sets Hershey’s modernization strategy apart is its deeply holistic nature. This is not merely a technology upgrade; it is a fundamental transformation that weaves together advancements in platforms with profound changes in organizational culture and business processes. This integrated approach ensures that new tools are adopted effectively and that the entire organization moves in lockstep toward a shared digital future.
This comprehensive strategy has successfully shifted the perception of the Information Services department. No longer viewed as a reactive cost center or a simple service provider, the IS team is now recognized as a proactive, value-creating business partner. By working in close collaboration with teams across the company, it has become a central force in driving innovation, efficiency, and growth.
Charting the Progress of a Digital-First Hershey
In the time since Kholodenko’s appointment, Hershey has made significant strides in its digital transformation. The new strategic framework, built on its four pillars, has been successfully established and socialized across the organization, creating a clear and unified vision for the future. The foundational work of modernizing core systems and defining new ways of working is well underway.
The progress is tangible, with technology becoming more deeply integrated into the business fabric at every level. From AI-powered insights guiding executive-level strategy to automated processes streamlining work on the factory floor, the impact of this digital-first mindset is beginning to permeate the entire organization. The initial phase has successfully laid the groundwork for the next wave of innovation and value creation.
Reflection and Broader Impacts
The early success of Hershey’s IT transformation can be attributed to several key factors, while its journey also offers valuable lessons for the broader industry. The strategy’s design and execution reflect a deep understanding of the challenges facing legacy companies in the digital age.
Reflection
The strategy’s core strengths have been the strong consensus and support it receives from Hershey’s senior leadership, coupled with its holistic approach. By addressing technology, people, and processes in concert, the framework avoids the common pitfall of investing in new tools without enabling the cultural and organizational changes needed to leverage them fully. However, the path forward is not without its challenges. Maintaining momentum over a multi-year transformation, managing the complexities of large-scale change across a global workforce, and continuously adapting to a rapidly evolving technology landscape will require sustained focus and agility.
Broader Impact
Hershey’s model for digital transformation serves as a compelling blueprint for other established companies, particularly within the CPG industry. Its focus on data empowerment, cross-functional collaboration, and the cultivation of an agile IT culture provides a clear roadmap for legacy organizations seeking to reinvent themselves for the digital era. Furthermore, Kholodenko’s work at Hershey exemplifies the evolving role of the modern CIO. It showcases a shift from a purely technical leader to a central business strategist who is instrumental in shaping corporate direction, driving revenue, and securing a company’s long-term competitive advantage.
The Sweet Future Scaling Innovation for Market Leadership
The four pillars of Gene Kholodenko’s future-proof strategy—a modern data foundation, integrated risk management, a collaborative workforce, and an agile culture—are now the bedrock of Hershey’s growth engine. They function not as a checklist of completed projects but as ongoing commitments that guide the company’s continuous evolution in a dynamic global market.
Looking forward, Hershey is poised to scale these digital capabilities and deepen its business partnerships. The company’s commitment to harnessing technology remains steadfast, with a clear focus on empowering its teams, automating processes, and unlocking new opportunities for innovation. Through this persistent focus on its digital-first vision, The Hershey Company is well-equipped to solidify its position as a global snacking powerhouse for generations to come.
