Denise Morrison on Campell's freshest mission

The continuing conversation on Campbell Soup Co. turns on how this classic food company, built on canned condensed soup, can respond to the trend toward fresh and organic.

"I've bought companies in response to the seismic shifts - the consumer preference for food and health and well-being, and a gravitation toward more fresh and natural and organic," said Denise Morrison, 62, Campbell Soup's chief executive.

They were "Bolthouse Farms, which got me into the fresh juice and carrots and salad dressing; Garden Fresh Gourmet, which got me fresh salsa and hummus. We've got Plum Organics baby food, which gave us a window into millennial parents."

You also launched a $125 million venture capital fund, Acre Venture L.P., to invest in food companies.

There's really an uptick of entrepreneurs across any industry, in particular, the food business. It's been wildly exciting. Just to be able to understand that up close, forming a fund and operating it independently is the way we decided to participate in the innovation that's going on.

Why does Campbell support mandatory national labeling of genetically modified foods (GMOs)?

What we are dealing with as an industry is that Vermont passed a law that goes into effect in July that requires GMO labeling on only 40 percent of the food business. So it's not a very good law. It doesn't cover the whole food industry, which we think that it should. We run an interstate commerce business, so state-by-state is not going to work. That's why we [want] a mandatory, federal solution.

Your thoughts on GMOs?

We believe GMOs are safe. Ninety percent of the corn, soy bean, sugar, beet, and canola in this country are GMO. We'll continue to use them in our products. We just believe it's an issue about transparency and consumers' right to know.

In leadership development, mentoring matters. What did a mentor teach you?

When I was a manager, I was incredibly results-driven -- on a mission at all times. I had a mentor pull me aside, and say, 'Denise, you need to build relationships with people. Get to know them and you'll find that when you need something, it's a much more normal situation.'

Did it resonate?

Yes. [I thought] 'I can do that.' I just didn't know it was important. Maybe it was coming through the ranks where you are the only woman, but I thought being really serious and business minded was how you needed to conduct yourself.

But, no, business is not just about that. It is about building constructive relationships and that opens the doors to new ideas and better business.

Is it hard to find people to give feedback?

Many men are hesitant about giving women feedback. Maybe they don't want to hurt somebody's feelings or it's tough to give news that might be perceived as bad.

I think of feedback as constructive, not positive or negative. You choose to do what you want with it.

When your boss gives you feedback, treat it neutrally.

Exactly. It's input. It's something you should absolutely reflect upon, but then you have to make your own decisions.

Executives often talk about the difficulty of getting honest feedback.

It's important to make it easy for people to give you feedback. The higher you go, the harder it is to hear bad news. Keeping yourself open to positive and negative news is important, because if you don't know about it, you can't do anything about it.

Campbell Soup Co. has been in Camden since the company began in 1869.

We have a very positive relationship with Camden. We actually are somewhat responsible for Subaru coming.

When you talked to him, what did Subaru's CEO see as pluses and minuses of moving its headquarters to Camden from Cherry Hill?

Proximity for the people was an advantage. You sit literally at the bridge to Philadelphia. He had questions about safety. I said, 'Sure, we have security at Campbell, but we haven't had a problem.'

Interview questions and answers have been edited for space.

jvonbergen@phillynews.com

215-854-2769@JaneVonBergen

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Title: Chief executive, president.

Home: Princeton.

Family: Husband, Tom; two grown daughters.

When she's good: She's drinking Campbell's Bolthouse Protein Plus Vanilla beverage.

When she's naughty: She's devouring Campbell's Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. "Sometimes I'll go for the double chocolate."

Diploma: Boston College, psychology, economics.

Resume: Started 30-year food career at Procter & Gamble; leadership posts at Nabisco, Nestle, Pepsi-Cola, Kraft; came to Campbell's in 2003. EndText

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Headquarters: Camden.

Brands: Campbell's, Pepperidge Farm, Plum Organics, Swanson, Prego, Goldfish, SpaghettiOs, Garden Fresh Gourmet, Bolthouse Farms, Pace, V8.

Dollars: $691 million annual profits on $8.1 billion in revenues.

Employees: 19,000 globally, 9,000 in the U.S., 1,100 in Camden.

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How Denise Morrison's father taught her leadership. www.philly.com/jobbing

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