John Bilbrey

John P. Bilbrey ("J.P") has been the president and CEO of The Hershey Company since May 17, 2011.

In addition to his work as the president and CEO of The Hershey Company, Bilbrey also is a director of the company. Bilbrey served as the interim president and CEO for a month in April and May 2011 after David J. West resigned. He previously was the executive vice president and COO of Hershey from Nov. 2, 2010, until May 17, 2011. He was the president of North America at The Hershey Company from December 2007 until November 2010 and was the senior vice president from November 2005 until November 2010. Prior to his work at Hershey, he held executive jobs at Mission Foods and Danone Waters of North America Inc. He spent 22 years at The Procter & Gamble Co. where he worked in both U.S. domestic business and in international assignments.

Bilbrey holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Kansas State University. At Kansas State, Bilbrey ran track and was a member of Delta Sigma Phi. http://www.ksudeltasig.org/.

Bilbrey has been a director at McCormick & Co. Inc. since Nov. 22, 2005 and a director of The Hershey Company since June 2011.