Tony Vernon

W. Anthony Vernon is a business executive who was the first chief executive officer of Kraft Foods after it was spun off from the Mondelēz International in 2012. Prior to his time at Kraft, he had a 23-year career at Johnson & Johnson and spent three years with Ripplewood Holdings. When he took on this position his salary increased to $1m per annum. Vernon’s overall compensation was $9.19 million for 2013.

Education Vernon holds a bachelor's degree from Lawrence University in history and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Career During his 23-year career at Johnson & Johnson, Vernon ran independent business units and led consumer brands such as Tylenol, Motrin, Pepcid AC, Imodium and Splenda. After Mondelēz International spun off Kraft on October 1, 2012, Vernon became CEO. At the time of the split, Kraft Foods (which included brands such as Oscar Mayer, Planters, Velveeta, Kool-Aid, Miracle Whip, Capri Sun, A1, Cool Whip and Jell-O) was the fourth-largest food and beverage company in North America, trailing PepsiCo, Nestle and Coca-Cola. On December 18, 2014, the company announced that Vernon intended to retire as CEO effective from December 28, and that the company planned to replace him with Chairman John Cahill.

Personal data Vernon is married with three adult sons.