Betsy Holden leaves Kraft Foods

Betsy Holden, 49, the global marketing chief of Kraft Foods Inc., stepped down from the company, a year and a half after being demoted from the job of co-chief executive. Holden, will take a 9- to 12-month sabbatical to spend time with her two teenage children, then pursue a "key operating leadership position" at another company, she told the Sun-Times.
Many analysts and members of the business community expected Betsy Holden to leave Kraft soon after her ouster from the CEO job in December 2003. At that time, her co-chief executive, Roger Deromedi, was named sole CEO of the Northfield-based food giant.
Holden became one of the top-ranking women in corporate America in 2000 when she was named CEO of Kraft Foods. Deromedi oversaw Kraft s far smaller international business. Both answered to Louis Camilleri, chief executive of Altria Group Inc., the tobacco giant formerly known as Philip Morris. Altria owns about 85 percent of Kraft s stock.