The 29-Year-Old Who Was Named Chief Financial Officer Of Kraft Heinz

Published 6 years ago

The Kraft Heinz Co. is a $100 billion market capitalization company that generates more than $26 billion in annual revenue by selling iconic brands like Heinz Ketchup, Velveeta Cheese and Kraft Macaroni. Starting in October, Kraft Heinz’s finances will be overseen by a 29-year-old.

The company announced that David Knopf will be the new chief financial officer of Kraft Heinz. Knopf has been working since 2015 at Kraft Heinz, where his responsibilities included overseeing the Planters Nuts brand and heading global budget and business planning, as well as zero-based budgeting and financial strategic planning as a vice-president.

Knopf is also a partner at 3G Capital, the private equity firm backed by billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira, and Marcel Herrmann Telles. 3G partnered with Warren Buffett to buy Heinz in a $23 billion deal and then merged the company with Kraft.

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Knopf, who also worked on the 3G-led $11 billion Burger King acquisition of Tim Hortons, played a prominent role in the $45 billion Kraft Heinz merger. After the deal closed, Knopf went to work at Kraft Heinz. According to his LinkedIn page, Knopf started working at 3G in 2013 as an analyst and was promoted to partner in 2015. Paulo Basilio, Kraft Heinz’s current CFO, will move on to become zone president of the U.S. business, which is struggling to grow revenues.

Knopf was on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Finance list in 2017. His promotion to such a big position at the age of 29 is another sign that financial professionals are accumulating more and more responsibility at a younger age. 3G is known for handing big roles to younger professionals but the trend seems to be getting broader both on Wall Street and beyond.

Related Topics: #CFO, #David Knopf, #Kraft Heinz, #private equity.