Hershey, PA — Deepak Bhatia is joining The Hershey Co. in the newly created role of chief technology officer and will also join the company’s executive committee. Bhatia is tasked with leading the company’s global technology strategy.
Formerly the vice-president of supply chain optimization technologies at Amazon, Bhatia brings deep expertise in developing cutting-edge automated systems, supply chain planning, optimization and simulation, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, according to Hershey.
“We are investing in our people and digital capabilities to strengthen our infrastructure and scale across our growing supply chain and business units,” says Michele Buck, Hershey president and CEO. “As we continue to double down in this area, Deepak has the expertise needed to successfully lead our technology strategy leveraging end-to-end data, analytics and automation to elevate our employee experience, create commercial value and advance our leading snacking powerhouse vision.”
“I am honored and humbled to be joining Hershey, a company with an incredible legacy and culture,” says Bhatia. “We are experiencing unprecedented technological innovation, and I am thrilled to spearhead the development and execution of a technology-driven transformation that will meet and exceed the evolving needs of our consumers and customers. I look forward to shaping a future of innovation and excellence.”
During his 12-year tenure at Amazon, Bhatia led the development of large-scale automated decision-making systems dealing with some of the most computationally and mathematically challenging problems in large complex supply chains, bringing applied science, software engineering and product management together. Prior to Amazon, Bhatia spent 11 years at Applied Materials, where, in addition to supply chain optimization, he built expertise in predictive business analytics to inform product management and innovation strategies.
