General Mills names insider McNabb as CEO, succeeding veteran Harmening

General Mills said on Wednesday Chief Operating Officer Dana McNabb will succeed longtime CEO Jeff Harmening next year, tasking a company veteran with leading the Cheerios maker’s efforts to ride out a difficult spending environment.

The leadership changes come as the packaged foods maker grapples with margin pressures, raising prices to offset the impact from higher input costs, including a rise in prices of raw materials affected by US import tariffs on metals such as aluminum and steel used in packaging.

Under Harmening, who joined the company in 1994 and has served as CEO since 2018, General Mills took several measures, including the divestiture of some underperforming brands.

McNabb, who has spent 27 years at General Mills, has held several senior leadership roles across general management, enterprise strategy, marketing and international operations.

Earlier this month, the company beat first-quarter sales and profit estimates and reaffirmed its annual forecast as price hikes and resilient demand for packaged food helped cushion the impact of higher input costs.

Shares of the company were marginally up at $34.03 in premarket trading.