Kraft Foods veteran becomes Carnival's corporate procurement officerKraft Foods veteran becomes Carnival's corporate procurement officer

Julia M. Brown will work closely with the company's nine brands and their support groups to strategically procure goods and services while leveraging Carnival's global scale with suppliers.

Arnold Donald, president and ceo of Carnival Corp., got to know Brown through their mutual association with the Executive Leadership Council, and said she has an exceptional track record of leading procurement at companies with massive global operations, as well as a highly strategic and collaborative approach.

'As we have become increasingly global, the role of coordinating our procurement and supply chains has become more and more complex,' added Alan Buckelew, Carnival's chief operations officer. 'At the same time, our global sourcing function creates opportunities for us to improve guest experiences on board our ships and collaborate across our brands to operate more efficiently,' he said. Buckelew noted Brown brings deep leadership experience to help capitalize on those opportunities.

She will report to Josh Leibowitz, chief strategy officer for Carnival Corp., and will be based at the company's Miami headquarters.

Brown most recently served as chief procurement officer on the global management team at Mondelez International, which split from Kraft Foods in 2012. Prior to the split, she served as cpo and svp of global procurement at Kraft Foods, responsible for the company's $30bn strategic sourcing function. Before Kraft, Brown was cpo and vp of corporate procurement and contract manufacturing at Clorox. She began her career at Procter & Gamble and also served in strategic roles at Diageo and Gillette.