The Hershey Company has announced Deepak Bhatia as its first Chief Technology Officer and newest member of its Executive Committee. Bhatia will lead the company’s global technology strategy, architecting and deploying digital capabilities that are innovative, flexible and prepared to meet the changing needs of Hershey’s consumers, retail partners and employees.

“We are investing in our people and digital capabilities to strengthen our infrastructure and scale across our growing supply chain and business units,” said President and CEO Michele Buck.

Formerly the Vice President of Supply Chain Optimization Technologies at Amazon, Bhatia brings deep expertise in developing cutting-edge automated systems, supply chain planning, optimization and simulation, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics.

“We are investing in our people and digital capabilities to strengthen our infrastructure and scale across our growing supply chain and business units,” said The Hershey Company President and Chief Executive Officer Michele Buck. “As we continue to double down in this area, Deepak has the expertise needed to successfully lead our technology strategy leveraging end-to-end data, analytics and automation to elevate our employee experience, create commercial value and advance our leading snacking powerhouse vision.”

“I am honoured and humbled to be joining Hershey, a company with an incredible legacy and culture,” shared Bhatia.  “We are experiencing unprecedented technological innovation, and I am thrilled to spearhead the development and execution of a technology-driven transformation that will meet and exceed the evolving needs of our consumers and customers. I look forward to shaping a future of innovation and excellence.”

During his 12-year tenure at Amazon in supply chain optimization, Bhatia led the development of large-scale automated decision-making systems dealing with some of the most computationally and mathematically challenging problems in large complex supply chains, bringing applied science, software engineering and product management together.  Prior to Amazon, Bhatia spent 11 years at Applied Materials, where, in addition to supply chain optimization, he also built expertise in predictive business analytics to inform product management and innovation strategies.

Bhatia holds a M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from Purdue University. He resides in Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Preeti, and sons, Daksh and Saarthak. His first day at Hershey will be on October 23.