Bethany Swartz
About Bethany Swartz
Bethany Swartz is the Consumer & Market Insights Manager for Snacking Consumer Experience at General Mills, with extensive experience in consumer insights and market intelligence.
Current Role at General Mills
Bethany Swartz serves as the Consumer & Market Insights Manager for the Snacking Consumer Experience at General Mills. In this role, she manages insights and strategies to enhance the consumer experience for the company's snacking products. Her responsibilities include leading the Consumer Experience team and managing key brands such as Nature Valley, Totinos, Salty Snacks, and Fruit Snacks. She oversees a team of three direct reports and focuses on leveraging consumer insights to drive growth and innovation.
Previous Positions at General Mills
Bethany Swartz has held several roles at General Mills over the years. She worked as the Consumer & Market Intelligence Manager for the Snacking Acceleration & Indulgent Snacking Business Unit from 2020 to 2021. Prior to that, she was the Global Consumer Insights Associate Manager for Kid & Teen Snacking from 2019 to 2020. She also served as the Global Consumer Insights Senior Associate from 2017 to 2019 and as the Global Consumer Insights Associate for In Context Experimentation from 2015 to 2017. Additionally, Bethany held positions as a Global Consumer Insights Senior Analyst and Analyst focused on Convenience & Foodservice Growth Insights & Analytics.
Education and Expertise
Bethany Swartz holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, completed between 2014 and 2016. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Taylor University, where she studied from 2008 to 2012. Her educational background provided her with a solid foundation in both marketing and psychology, which she leverages in her insights and consumer experience roles.
Early Career and Research Experience
Before joining General Mills, Bethany Swartz gained significant experience in research analytics. She worked as an Institutional Research Analyst at Elgin Community College from 2012 to 2013 and as an Independent Research Consultant for Mike Falder in 2011. She also contributed to the Marion Public School System as a Research Consultant and held multiple research roles at Taylor University, including positions at the Center for Research and Innovation and the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. Additionally, she worked as a Research Analyst for the High Altitude Research Platform.
Key Projects and Initiatives
Bethany Swartz has led several key projects and initiatives during her time at General Mills. She played a pivotal role in the development and activation of three transformational category visions for Bars, Fruit Snacks, and Salty Snacks, leading to operational plans that informed long-term growth strategies. She also spearheaded the reinvention of US Retail Annual Plans Kick Off, utilizing business-minded storytelling and foresights to better align annual planning with long-term growth insights.