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ConAgra Chief Gives Former Adviser New Post in Regulatory Affairs

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 December 2005, 00:00 CST

By Joe Ruff, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Dec. 4--ConAgra Foods Chief Executive Gary Rodkin has named a former colleague and close adviser to the newly created post of executive vice president for legal and regulatory affairs.

Robert F. Sharpe Jr., 53, most recently was a partner with the Brunswick Group LLC, a privately held global financial communications firm, and before that he was senior vice president and general counsel for PepsiCo Inc.

Rodkin worked with Sharpe at PepsiCo, where Rodkin was president and chief executive of PepsiCo Beverages and Foods North America.

Rodkin left PepsiCo in July in search of his own company to run. He took over Oct. 1 at Omaha-based ConAgra, succeeding Bruce Rohde.

"Rob Sharpe is a seasoned executive with a great combination of legal skills, regulatory knowledge and business savvy," Rodkin said in a press release. "I know him well from my time at Pepsi, and he will be a tremendous asset to us at ConAgra Foods." Sharpe said he was delighted to work with Rodkin again and to help him take ConAgra to the next level.

"We have great people and strong brands that, when combined, can deliver the solid financial results that shareholders value," Sharpe said in the release.

During his eight-year tenure as CEO, Rohde sold ConAgra's fresh beef, pork and chicken operations, reshaping ConAgra from a huge agricultural conglomerate into a more focused branded-foods company. Its products include Chef Boyardee, Armour, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Swiss Miss, Van Camp's and Healthy Choice.

In May, Rohde said he was ready to step down, and he said the company needed someone with more marketing and operational expertise.

Rodkin joined PepsiCo in 1998 when the company acquired Tropicana, where Rodkin had been president for North America since 1995.

Sharpe was senior vice president for public affairs, secretary and general counsel for PepsiCo Inc. from 1998 to 2002, with responsibility for the company's worldwide law and government affairs functions. He joined the Brunswick Group in 2002. Earlier in his career, Sharpe also served as senior vice president and general counsel at RJR Nabisco.

ConAgra's legal counsel is McGrath North Mullin & Kratz of Omaha, and its general counsel is Roger Wells of McGrath North. The law firm has been legal counsel for the company since the 1970s, and Rohde began his work with ConAgra as an attorney at McGrath North. Rohde's wife, Sandra Morar, has been an attorney at McGrath North since 1988 and has been one of many attorneys at the firm who have done legal work for ConAgra.

ConAgra spokesman Chris Kircher said Sharpe will act as a close adviser to Rodkin, as Sharpe had in the past at PepsiCo. McGrath North will continue to play a large role in providing legal services, Kircher said.

"It's possible we may hire attorneys in specific areas, but we are not building a full-scale, in-house legal department," Kircher said.

Wells said he and his firm looked forward to working with Sharpe.

"I think we've done ConAgra work in the past and our expectation is we'll continue to do significant work for ConAgra in the future," he said.

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CAG, PEP,

Source: Omaha World-Herald

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