Hershey Names Finance Veteran Dave Hulays as New CFO

What happened

The Hershey Company has named Dave Hulays as its next chief financial officer, effective September 2, 2026, succeeding Steve Voskuil with immediate effect 101112. Hulays previously served as Hershey's senior vice president of finance, and the company says he brings nearly 30 years of financial leadership experience split between Hershey and Procter & Gamble 101113. Reuters, whose account ran across multiple outlets including kelo.com and freedom969.com, described him as an "insider and industry veteran" taking the reins as Hershey works through a difficult macroeconomic backdrop while still enjoying firm demand and higher prices 11215.

Hulays joined Hershey in 2012 as vice president of finance for Canada, according to both the company's own release and Reuters' reporting, and steadily took on wider responsibilities spanning the company's U.S. and international businesses, global supply chain, the Growth Office, mergers and acquisitions, corporate financial planning, tax and treasury, and enterprise transformation 101315. Before Hershey, he spent 15 years at Procter & Gamble across commercial, supply-chain, strategy and global business-development roles 1013. Reuters' version, syndicated through freedom969.com, adds a detail no other outlet includes: Hulays' age, 54 15. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from York University's Schulich School of Business in Toronto 101314.

The outgoing CFO, Steve Voskuil, is not leaving abruptly. He will move into a newly created role as SVP of Strategic Projects, supporting CEO Kirk Tanner and the board while helping ensure a smooth handoff, and has stated his intent to retire in early 2027 after seven years leading Hershey's finance organization 101315. That overlap period distinguishes this change from an abrupt executive departure — coverage from abc27.com and the wire services alike frames it as a deliberate succession rather than a sudden shake-up 101315. Tanner, quoted in Hershey's release, called Hulays "a proven, enterprise-minded finance leader" and credited Voskuil's seven years of leadership as he transitions into his new advisory capacity 13.

Voskuil's own arrival at Hershey follows a similar pattern. He joined as CFO in 2019, taking over from retiring CFO Patricia Little, after serving as CFO of Avanos Medical since 2014, and spent more than two decades before that at Kimberly-Clark, including as CFO of its international division 16. A University of Wisconsin profile of Voskuil from October 2025 describes his emphasis on corporate culture as a strategic asset and his path through Kimberly-Clark and Stanford's business school, underscoring that his Hershey tenure has been built around mentoring and cross-functional leadership development — themes that resonate with Hulays' own multi-functional rise through the company 17.

Why it matters

Hulays takes over finance at a moment when Hershey's headline growth is masking real strain underneath. For full-year 2025, Hershey reported net sales of $11.69 billion, up 4.4%, but gross margin collapsed to 33.5% from 47.3%, operating profit fell 50.3% to $1.44 billion, and net income dropped 60.2% to $883.3 million, or $4.34 per diluted share 18. The company attributed the damage to soaring cocoa costs, higher supply-chain expenses, tariffs, and a $491 million unfavorable mark-to-market swing on commodity derivatives 18.

More recent results show the beginnings of a turnaround, but one built heavily on pricing rather than volume. In the second quarter of 2026, consolidated net sales rose 6.6% to $2.787 billion, with organic constant-currency growth of 3.6% driven by roughly 12 points of price realization — even as volume fell about 8 points 1920. Reported net income jumped to $457.7 million, or $2.26 per diluted share, an increase of 629%, while adjusted EPS rose 57% to $1.90 20. Gross margin recovered to 45.3% from 30.5% a year earlier, helped by pricing, derivative gains, lower net commodity costs and productivity savings 1920. Hershey's North America Confectionery segment saw sales rise 4.2% on about 14 points of pricing, even as volume fell roughly 10 points — a pattern that illustrates the central tension Hulays inherits: consumers are absorbing higher prices for now, but not without pulling back on how much chocolate they buy.

This is the backdrop against which a CFO transition becomes more than a routine personnel notice. Hulays will be responsible for navigating cocoa-price volatility, hedging strategy, and the balance between defending margins and preserving volume, all while Hershey pushes further into salty snacks through acquisitions such as LesserEvil in an effort to diversify beyond its core confectionery business 18.

Where the reporting agrees

Across the wire coverage, the company's own release, and local outlets, the basic facts are consistent and uncontested: Hulays succeeds Voskuil effective September 2, 2026; Voskuil moves into an SVP Strategic Projects role and plans to retire in early 2027; Hulays previously served as SVP of Finance after joining Hershey in 2012 as VP Finance, Canada; and he spent 15 years at Procter & Gamble beforehand 1011121315. Every account also agrees on his educational background — a University of Waterloo undergraduate degree and a Schulich School of Business MBA 101314. The overlap period between the two executives, intended to smooth the transition, is reported identically by Hershey's press release, abc27.com, and the Reuters coverage syndicated widely across investing.com, ca.investing.com, kelo.com and freedom969.com 1011121315.

Where it doesn't

The most notable variance is not a factual contradiction but a difference in framing and detail depth. Reuters' version, which appeared under multiple outlet names, adds two specifics absent from Hershey's own release and from abc27.com: Hulays' age (54) and an explicit characterization of Hershey's environment as "tough," tied to robust demand and rising prices 11215. Hershey's press release and its pickup by abc27.com instead lean on Kirk Tanner's laudatory language about Hulays being "enterprise-minded" and leading with "rigor, accountability and courage," a framing entirely sourced from company messaging rather than independent reporting 1013. Some outlets, including investing.com and ca.investing.com, strip out the more editorial language altogether and present the appointment as a brief, mechanical announcement — effective immediately, succeeding Voskuil, nearly 30 years of experience — without characterizing the macroeconomic backdrop at all 1114.

There is also a difference in scope rather than disagreement: only Hershey's own release and abc27.com include Tanner's direct quotes thanking Voskuil for his seven-year tenure, while the Reuters-derived wire copy omits the CEO's remarks entirely, focusing instead on market conditions 101315. None of this amounts to a factual dispute — it reflects the difference between a corporate announcement optimized for reassurance and continuity, and wire journalism oriented toward what the appointment signals about Hershey's competitive and financial position.

The reading the evidence supports

Taken together, the coverage supports a straightforward conclusion: this is a carefully sequenced internal succession, not a response to crisis, even though it arrives while Hershey's financials are still recovering from a rough 2025. The consistency across company materials, wire reporting, and local coverage on timing, roles, and biographical details leaves little room for dispute on the facts. The only meaningful divergence is emphasis — whether the story is told as a vote of confidence in an internal finance veteran, as Hershey's own materials frame it, or as a leadership change unfolding against a backdrop of pricing-driven, volume-eroding growth, as the wire coverage frames it. Both are true simultaneously, and the financial results back the more cautious reading: Hershey's recovery is real but built on price increases that are already denting volume, which means Hulays' actual test will be measured less by the smoothness of his transition than by whether he can convert this pricing-led rebound into something more durable.