Vice President, Distribution Operations & Transportation

Location: Orrville, Corporate Offices
Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 9 days a month primarily during core weeks as determined by the Company; may be more as business need requires.

About the Role

This role is responsible for leading end-to-end distribution, warehousing, and transportation operations across the J.M. Smucker Co.’s North America footprint. It oversees both company-owned and third-party distribution centers, national and cross-border transportation operations, and major 3PL partnerships to ensure world-class service performance, operational resilience, and cost efficiency. The role also has responsibility for the Sherbrooke, ON manufacturing facility.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and execute a multi-year distribution and transportation strategy aligned with enterprise supply chain and business objectives.
• Partner across Commercial, Procurement, Manufacturing, Customer Supply Chain, Finance, and Digital to leverage logistics as a strategic competitive advantage that accelerates growth, improves customer experience, strengthens resilience, and expands margins.
• Continuously benchmark Smucker’s logistics network, operating costs, service performance, and capabilities against world-class internal and external peers, translating external best practices into competitive advantage and enterprise value creation.
• Lead the strategic direction and adoption of Artificial Intelligence, Decision Intelligence, predictive analytics, and digital technologies to improve planning, transportation optimization, warehouse productivity, autonomous decision making, network visibility, and operational resilience.
• Own multi-year productivity and transformation roadmaps, delivering committed cost savings, working capital improvements, and service enhancements across warehousing and transportation.

Distribution & Warehouse Operations Excellence

• Lead operations across multi-site distribution centers, both company-owned and outsourced, ensuring service, safety, quality, and cost KPIs are met.
• Ensure full compliance with DOT, OSHA, environmental, labor, and food safety regulations.
• Proactively manage operational risks, business continuity, and contingency planning across the distribution network.
• Oversee facility strategy, including footprint optimization, capacity planning, lease negotiations, renewals, and exit strategies.
• Represent Smucker externally through industry forums, strategic partnerships, technology ecosystems, and professional networks to identify disruptive innovations and position the company as a logistics leader.

Transportation Excellence

• Oversee inbound, outbound, and intercompany transportation networks, ensuring reliable, cost-effective service.
• Drive continuous improvement in on-time and in-full (OTIF) performance, customer service metrics, and carrier compliance.
• Lead carrier strategy, contract negotiations, and performance management, including 3PLs and dedicated fleets where applicable.

Automation, Technology & Innovation

• Champion warehouse and transportation automation initiatives, including robotics, material handling systems, WMS/TMS optimization, and data analytics.
• Partner with IT, engineering, and external vendors to deploy scalable, future-ready solutions that improve throughput, visibility, and labor efficiency.
• Leverage data to enable predictive decision-making and continuous improvement across the network.

Third Party & Vendor Management

• Provide executive leadership for 3PL partnerships, ensuring performance accountability, contract compliance, and value creation.
• Establish governance models, scorecards, and QBRs to drive continuous improvement and innovation from external partners.

Team & Organizational Leadership

• Lead and develop high-performing logistics teams across distribution and transportation.
• Foster a culture of safety, collaboration, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Develop succession plans and talent pipelines to support long-term organizational capability.

Financial & Budget Ownership

• Develop and manage the annual operating and capital budgets for distribution and transportation, including freight, warehousing, labor, automation, and leased facilities.
• Drive monthly spend variance and reforecasting efforts throughout the fiscal year.
• Deliver productivity targets through network optimization, rate negotiations, automation, labor efficiency, and asset utilization improvements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Engineering, Business, or related field.
• At least 15 years of progressive leadership experience in supply chain, logistics, or distribution within a CPG or high-volume consumer environment.
• Deep expertise in transportation strategy, warehousing operations, and 3PL management, budget ownership, and contract negotiations.
• Experience leading cross-border U.S./Canada logistics.
• Strong financial acumen and capital-planning experience.
• Strong executive communication skills with experience influencing executives and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Up to 15% required travel.

About the Company

We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, play to win, and believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we support every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.