EMERYVILLE, CA — On May 19, Clif Bar & Company announced the hiring of three consumer packaged goods industry executives to drive the organic and sustainable energy food company’s next stage of purpose-driven growth and expansion. The new leaders joining the company are Shaunte Mears-Watkins, chief commercial officer, Roma McCaig, senior vice president of impact and communications, and Hari Avula, chief financial and strategy officer.
Mears-Watkins will lead enterprise-wide growth initiatives, including brand strategy, marketing, and sales. McCaig will oversee the company’s sustainability strategy and community initiatives as well as corporate, brand, and employee communications. And Avula will oversee enterprise business strategy and financial management in support of the company’s Five Aspirations model to sustain its people, community, planet, brands, and business.
All three positions will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Sally Grimes.
“Clif Bar has bold goals for the future, with the intention to double our business and double our positive impact on the world,” said Grimes. “We are thrilled to welcome these exceptional leaders to our executive team, as their world-class talent and experience will help fuel the growth for our ambitious vision.”
Shaunte Mears-Watkins, Roma McCaig and Hari Avula
Mears-Watkins comes to Clif Bar from The Clorox Company, where she was most recently vice president of strategy, following senior positions in brand management, sales, and marketing. Mears-Watkins has also held global brand and retail management roles at Bare Escentuals and Procter & Gamble. Mears-Watkins earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.
McCaig joins Clif Bar from Campbell Soup Company, where she served as vice president of corporate responsibility and sustainability, following other senior roles in shared service operations and procurement at the company. Prior to joining Campbell, McCaig held leadership positions at Uber Technologies, Citrix Systems, and Kaiser Permanente, where she worked in business operations and communications. McCaig earned a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Avula comes to Clif Bar after having held senior finance, business transformation, and strategy leadership roles at Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and PepsiCo. This includes serving as chief financial officer for the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of WBA and chief financial officer of PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America Division. Avula earned a Master of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management.
