Dive Brief:

• The Clorox Company CFO Kevin Jacobsen will retire after a three-decade tenure with the household products company, with Clorox appointing its treasurer, Luc Bellet, to serve as its next finance chief, according to a recent press release.
• Jacobsen will depart from his role as CFO effective April 1 and will continue to serve in an advisory capacity with the company until June 2025, according to a securities filing.
• The move comes as the Oakland, California-based company looks to embark on “an important phase of growth through our digital transformation," Jacobsen said in a statement in the release regarding the CFO transition.

Dive Insight:

Jacobsen has served as Clorox’s finance chief since April 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile. His previous roles include serving as VP of global finance, and as VP of finance for the company’s international division/M&A. Jacobsen also served as a member of the economic advisory council for the San Francisco Federal Reserve for two years, ending in December 2024. He currently serves as an independent board member for energy firm Avista.

Jacobsen’s successor, Bellet, is also a long-time employee of Clorox, having held various executive and operational roles during his 18-year career with the company. Bellet has served as its VP and treasurer since October 2023, according to the company filing. Before his role as treasurer, he served as VP of financial planning and analysis for a five-year period beginning April 2018.

In association with his appointment as CFO, Clorox increased Bellet’s base salary to $725,000, effective April 1, according to the company filing. Bellet’s short-term incentive target was also increased to 100% from 50% of his base salary, and he is set to receive a grant of restricted stock units that have an aggregate fair value of $400,000 as well as performance shares with an aggregate target fair value of $600,000, the company said.

Bellet will take the financial reins as Clorox targets a renewed strategy and aims to continue to foster steady growth after recovering from a 2023 cyberattack that led to product disruptions and hurt sales throughout its fiscal 2024, Industry Dive sister publication CIO Dive previously reported. The maker of Clorox and Pine Sol — as well as Hidden Valley Ranch and other household products — incurred $49 million in costs from the attack, including third-party consulting service and “incremental operating expenses,” CFO Dive previously reported.

The attack “created significant disruption to the company's operations,” Clorox said in its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company has continued to move forward on its plans to recover, however, resuming a five-year modernization plan that includes an overhaul of its ERP system as well as undertaking significant strategic moves such as the divestitures of both its Argentina businesses and its “Better Health Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Business” last year. The latter segment represented approximately 3% of its 2024 sales, Clorox said. It sold its VMS business to Piping Rock Health Products in September.

The company credited its CFO Jacobsen as a key player in its recovery; as its finance chief, Jacobsen “guided the company through volatility in the midst of moderating inflation, continued organizational transformation and elevated uncertainty,” the company said in a summary of Jacobsen’s performance related to his compensation for 2024 included in its latest proxy statement.

“We thoughtfully managed our cash position through debt choices and asset sales as we navigated the aftermath of the cyberattack,” Clorox said. For fiscal 2024, Jacobsen received total compensation of approximately $4.3 million, including a base salary of $788,504, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $780,000, and stock awards with a value of approximately $2.4 million, according to the proxy.

Clorox entered its fiscal 2025 “in a position of operational strength, having fully restored supply, distribution and the vast majority of market share from the August 2023 cyberattack,” CEO Linda Rendle said during the company’s Q1 of fiscal 2025 earnings call in October. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2024, Clorox reported a 27% increase in net sales to $1.7 billion compared to $1.3 billion the prior year period, according to its earnings release.

The company is expected to share its Q2 2025 earnings results on Feb. 3, according to an announcement.

Clorox declined to comment beyond its press release.