AUSTIN, Minn. — Scott Aakre has been named vice president of corporate innovation and new product development at Hormel Foods Corporation, and Whitney Velasco-Aznar is joining the company to take Aakre’s previous job as vice president of marketing for Grocery Products.

“Scott’s new position will allow him to focus on our corporate innovation processes and new product development,” said Jeffrey Ettinger, chairman of the board, president and CEO. “We welcome Whitney and look forward to the marketing acumen she will add for our Grocery Products portfolio, which includes the SPAM family of products and Hormel chili.”


In 1990, Aakre joined Hormel as an assistant product manager in meat products and was later promoted to various positions within the department. He was promoted to group product manager for meat products in 1998 and was later named group product manager for Grocery Products. In 2003 Aakre was promoted to director of marketing for the division before being named vice president of marketing for Grocery Products in 2005.

Possessing more than 19 years of experience as a consumer goods marketer and business manager, Velasco-Aznar is currently the marketing controller for Cereal Partners Worldwide, a 50/50 joint venture between Nestlé SA and General Mills Inc., in the United Kingdom. She also served as vice president of marketing and senior marketing manager of the CPW Asian and Latin American regions, respectively.

In other news, Hormel’s board of directors has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 12.75¢ per share on the common stock of the corporation. This marks the company’s 331st quarterly dividend. On May 15, the dividend will be paid to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 23.