Anthony Vernon new President, Kraft Foods North America

Kraft Foods Inc. has announced that W. Anthony Vernon will become President, Kraft Foods North America, in mid-August. Vernon, 53, joins Kraft Foods from private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, following a successful career at Johnson & Johnson. He will report to Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld and become a member of the Kraft Foods Executive Team. He replaces Rick Searer, who will retire at the end of September.

Vernon is a 26-year veteran of the healthcare industry, principally in consumer businesses at Johnson & Johnson, and over the last three years as healthcare industry partner of Ripplewood Holdings. At J&J, Vernon ran multibillion-dollar independent business units and led many of that company's largest consumer brands, including Tylenol, Motrin, Pepcid AC, Imodium and Splenda. His accomplishments include leading the strategic evaluation, licensing and launch of Concerta and turning Remicade into a market leader in biologics; both of these prescription drugs are now billion dollar franchises for J&J.

www.kraftfoods.com