Brian Kennell

Brian Kennell is president and CEO of the U.S. and Canada for Swiss-based, multi-national Tetra Pak, the world’s leading food processing and packaging solutions company. Before assuming this top-level leadership role, Kennell was Tetra Pak's vice president of finance and business transformation for all of North America, after serving in a number of positions at the Company. He came to Tetra Pak in 1991 after working at Arthur Andersen and a privately held manufacturing company.

During more than two decades with Tetra Pak, Kennell has developed a deep understanding of Tetra Pak’s culture, history and industry. Thanks to that knowledge and an inherent ability to implement, drive and manage development and growth, he has been able to serve as an agent for fundamental change and to build employee support for it. He is particularly proud of his work as VP of finance and business transformation, which included reorienting his team members to become proactive business partners and strategists.

In leading the company, Kennell focuses on product quality and customer service excellence—and strongly emphasizes these concepts to employees, helping them understand everything they do impacts customers’ loyalty. Kennell is also committed to meeting the quickly changing needs of the company’s customers and continuing to drive a culture of innovation.

Kennell is also passionate about improving sustainability in the food and beverage industry—an effort embraced by Tetra Pak worldwide. As the world population grows, and demand for consumer packaged goods increases, global supplies of clean air, water, oil, natural gas and minerals are coming under greater pressure. Under Kennell's direction, and working closely with the World Wildlife Fund, Tetra Pak launched a campaign called Moving to the Front.

Moving to the Front was designed to raise awareness among all members of the supply chain of the importance of using materials derived from renewable resources, which can be regrown or replenished naturally. Choosing renewable materials helps the planet and businesses thrive. (See Kennell's piece, Moving to the Front—A Holistic View of Packaging.)

A Chicago native, Brian Kennell majored in accounting at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, earning a bachelor of science in finance and becoming a certified public accountant before entering the business world. He is passionate about all aviation-related activities, from flying to skydiving.