John Brase
President & Chief Executive Officer
Executive
0 yr
4 reports
Leadership change John Brase became President & CEO (from President & COO, J.M. Smucker) · 8-K filed 2026-04-13
Conagra Brands, Inc. ·CAG
CEO transition brings externally hired operator to Conagra
Food, Beverages & Tobacco · Fortune #350 · Functional structure · 18K employees · Chicago, Illinois
View as of:
2
CEO span
↓ tighter than peers (avg 8)
1.5
Avg span
tight
3
Max depth
3 levels
5.5 yr
Avg tenure
↓ 1.0yr from FY2025
50%
Internal hires
near industry avg
Consolidated financials FY2025 · period end 2025-05-25 · 10-K
Revenue
$11.6B
Operating income
$1.4B
Net income
$1.2B
Total assets
$20.9B
Shares out
477M
Sourced from Conagra Brands, Inc. 8-K · filed 2026-04-13 ↗ View on SEC
Interactive org chart
Conagra Brands, Inc. organizational chart
Explore the executive structure, reporting layers, and scenario-ready operating model from public filings.
Open editable chart
Take this model into your AI workspace Use AI to reason through the model, then bring the scenario back into Creately Atlas.
Choose a prompt, then open an AI app and paste.
Download the CSV data instead
Conagra Brands’ leadership structure highlights a major CEO transition, with external hire John Brase stepping in without adding a COO layer. This page details the current executive structure, key leadership changes, financial context, and peer comparisons following the transition.
What to model
Use the chart to test org decisions, not just view reporting lines
Start with the public baseline, then use the scenario views and source-backed changes to ask what happens when leadership, span, or team ownership shifts.
Latest signal John Brase joined as President & Chief Executive Officer
Appointed CEO effective June 1, 2026.
Source · See change logScenario views in the chart
- Add Chief Operating Officer Introduce a COO reporting to the CEO to centralize operational execution following the leadership transition.
- CFO Succession Scenario Remove the current CFO role to model succession planning and internal promotion pathways.
Atlas work this supports
- Connect Workday or UKG Get these analytics for YOUR org — tenure, span of control, headcount, automatically from your HRIS.
- Connect Salesforce Map your target accounts like this. Import contacts, visualize decision chains, plan multi-threading.
- Plan a Reorg Use this as a starting point. Model scenarios, compare structures, present options to your board.
The people
Who's running this
3 executives identified as Named Executive Officers in the most recent SEC proxy. Bar length scales with tenure.
David S. Marberger
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Finance
6 yr
2 reports
Carey Bartell
Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Legal
5 yr
0 reports
The businesses
How Conagra Brands, Inc. divides the work
3 divisions report into the group CEO. Tile size scales with estimated headcount.
Finance
400 employees
Executive Vice President & CFO (David S. Marberger)
Oversees financial reporting, treasury, tax, and investor relations across the enterprise.
Legal & Corporate Affairs
150 employees
EVP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary (Carey Bartell)
Manages legal risk, governance, compliance, and corporate secretarial functions.
Executive
50 employees
President & CEO (John Brase)
Sets enterprise strategy and oversees all functional leadership.
The thesis
Why this org is unusual
Conagra’s most distinctive structural feature is the externally hired CEO replacing a long-tenured internal leader with no additional operating layer added.
John Brase joins directly over a traditional functional executive team, with finance and legal remaining the primary enterprise controls reporting to the CEO.
The structure shown is functional rather than divisional at the enterprise level, with the CEO maintaining a relatively narrow span. The absence of a COO role concentrates operational accountability directly under the CEO, a notable choice given Brase’s background as a former COO.
Finance shows internal continuity, with David Marberger retaining CFO and interim principal accounting officer responsibilities while promoting Melissa Napier internally to controller, signaling stability below the CEO transition.
- No COO role
- External CEO hire after eight-year tenure of prior CEO
- Finance leadership continuity
The comparison
How Conagra Brands, Inc. stacks up
Compared with packaged-food peers such as General Mills and Kraft Heinz, Conagra operates with a leaner C-suite and no dedicated COO. Many peers added operating or transformation roles following leadership changes, while Conagra has so far preserved its pre-transition structure. The external CEO hire contrasts with …
C-suite size
Reporting depth
Conagra Brands, Inc.
3 levels
4 levels
5 levels
4 levels
Campbell Soup Company
4 levels
Avg C-suite tenure
Has COO / Has CAIO
Conagra Brands, Inc. — no COO — no CAIO
Campbell Soup Company — no COO — no CAIO
Current signals
What changed recently
The most consequential change is the appointment of John Brase as CEO effective June 1, 2026, succeeding long-time leader Sean Connolly.
Leadership Timeline
Year-over-year executive structure based on SEC proxy and annual filings.
FY2026
8-K filed 2026-04-13
- CEO
- John Brase
- CEO span
- 2
- C-suite
- 2
- Avg tenure
- 5.5 yr
CEO transition announced with external hire.
Named executive officers (2)
- John Brase - President & CEO since 2026
- David S. Marberger - EVP & CFO since 2019
FY2025
8-K filed 2025-10-06
- CEO
- Sean Connolly
- CEO span
- 2
- C-suite
- 2
- Avg tenure
- 6.5 yr
Finance leadership change at controller level.
Named executive officers (2)
- Sean Connolly - President & CEO since 2015
- David S. Marberger - EVP & CFO since 2019
Year-over-year changes
The primary change was a CEO transition from a long-tenured internal leader to an externally hired executive.
- CEO span: 2 → 2
- C-suite size: 2 → 2
- Avg tenure: 6.5 → 5.5 yr
- new John Brase - President & CEO (was President & COO, J.M. Smucker) (8-K filed 2026-04-13)
- departed Sean Connolly - President & CEO (8-K filed 2026-04-13)
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the CEO of Conagra Brands?
John Brase is President and CEO, appointed effective June 1, 2026.
What type of organizational structure does Conagra Brands use?
Conagra Brands operates a primarily functional enterprise structure.
How many direct reports does Conagra Brands's CEO have?
The CEO currently has two direct enterprise-level reports.
How has Conagra Brands's leadership changed recently?
The company appointed John Brase as CEO in June 2026 and announced the departure of Sean Connolly.
Does Conagra Brands have a COO?
No, Conagra Brands does not currently have a Chief Operating Officer.
Sources
- 8-K Filing, Apr 13 2026
- 8-K Filing, Oct 6 2025
- SEC EDGAR: Conagra Brands, Inc. DEF 14A Proxy Statement
- SEC EDGAR: Conagra Brands, Inc. 10-K Annual Report
Reference
Cite this page
If you reference this page in research, analysis, or news writing, use one of the formats below. Citation includes the SEC filing source where applicable.
APA 7th
Creately. (2026). Conagra Brands, Inc. organizational structure. Creately. Retrieved , from https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/conagra-brands/MLA 9th
"Conagra Brands, Inc. Organizational Structure." Creately, April 1, 2026, https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/conagra-brands/. Accessed .Chicago 17
Creately. "Conagra Brands, Inc. Organizational Structure." Last modified April 1, 2026. https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/conagra-brands/.Original SEC source View on SEC ↗
Conagra Brands, Inc.. 8-K. Filed 2026-04-13. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/23217/000002321726000013/tmb-20260408x8k.htmPermanent URL: https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/conagra-brands/ · last updated 2026-04-01