The Hershey Company announced Deepak Bhatia as its first Chief Technology Officer and new 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. 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.

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, 2023.