Chris Hamway – Kraft Heinz

Transformation inside a global CPG company is seldom linear. For Chris Hamway, associate general counsel supporting supply chain, operations, procurement, environmental health and safety, and real estate at Kraft Heinz, the past year has been defined by strategic acceleration followed by recalibration. The company’s September 2025 announcement that it intended to pursue a separation triggered months of intensive legal work. By February, new leadership had placed that plan on pause. For Hamway and the legal team, both decisions demanded clear legal judgment under pressure and a commitment of purpose that has been with him from the beginning.

Chris Hamway | Kraft Heinz | Associate General Counsel – Supply Chain, Operations & Procurement

After earning a degree in journalism and public relations from Miami University, where he wrote for the school paper covering high-profile athletes like future NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Hamway attended Tulane Law School, moving to New Orleans a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Having once imagined a career in broadcasting, he was instead faced with something entirely different: a damaged community and a legal system in dire need of assistance. The storm and its impacts exposed breakdowns in the criminal justice system, leaving inmates unable to retrieve personal property lost in the storm or to connect with family members and lawyers. Civil legal aid was needed for displaced residents facing eviction while awaiting FEMA benefits or insurance proceeds. Many law school legal clinics shifted their work to address these issues and even received help from around the country.

“Hundreds of law students from all over the U.S. spent their spring breaks and summers in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities helping to navigate complex legal problems during the recovery effort,” Hamway recounts.

Giving back

Hamway logged over 150 hours of pro bono service before graduation—a formative experience that shaped a practical, people-centered approach to the practice of law. His early career path was not a traditional pipeline to a Fortune 500 legal department, nor was it surprising, given his early pro bono work. After spending a year in public service at the City of Chicago Law Department doing collection and title work, he went into private practice handling consumer matters, real estate, bankruptcy, and estate planning. Representing individuals meant high volume and personal stakes.

“The work you do on behalf of individuals can be very impactful,” Hamway says. “But with that comes a lot of pressure and, if you’re good at what you do, a significant caseload.”

After roughly three years sharpening his transactional and compliance skills in-house at a real estate tech company in Chicago, he joined Kraft Heinz as a contractor in September 2018. It didn’t take long to realize he found the right place.

“Right away, I was welcomed into an incredibly talented and collaborative law department”, said Hamway. “Many of our senior lawyers have been with the company well over a decade, which speaks volumes.”

He converted to in-house counsel six months later, in March 2019, and rose to the position of associate general counsel in November 2025.

The skills during those formative years – moving quickly under pressure, thinking creatively, coordinating across stakeholders, and balancing legal rigor with compassion – now guide his work at Kraft Heinz.

A season of separation work

When Kraft Heinz announced plans to separate the company in September 2025, a handful of its lawyers were assigned to provide legal support to the various functional areas. Hamway devoted roughly half his time to separation-related work while continuing to fulfill his core responsibilities.

“Joining several separation-related workstreams was a new challenge for me,” Hamway says. “The timelines and workload were daunting, but each step in the process was exciting.”

The scope included analyzing hundreds of supplier contracts, leases, and other commercial agreements to determine how they would be allocated across potential new businesses. Real estate and logistics footprints, environmental permits, and regulatory obligations had to be mapped out against future structures. Each workstream required transactional precision and coordination with finance, operations, tax, and procurement leaders.

A pivot & pause

In February, the separation was officially put on hold. The new CEO signaled a focus on strengthening the existing enterprise, supported by significant investments in marketing, research and development, and sales. Months of transaction planning stopped almost overnight.

For Hamway, the work was not wasted.

“We learned a lot about our existing businesses even though the work didn’t result in separate companies,” Hamway says. “A lot of the work that was done will be used by the company to create efficiencies and better enable a successful deployment of the planned investments as part of the new strategy.”

The contract mapping and operational footprint analysis created a deeper understanding of the global supply chain. Cross-functional collaboration strengthened relationships between legal and business leaders. For the past six months, suppliers, licensees, partners, and customers have been seeking clarity about the transaction. Legal played a central role in assessing what could be communicated and how potential changes might affect those third-party relationships.

The separation process also required granular scenario planning. Legal teams evaluated how intellectual property licenses might transfer, how shared services agreements would be structured, and how labor and employment obligations could shift under different corporate configurations. Each hypothetical required drafting, redrafting, and stress-testing assumptions against regulatory frameworks in multiple jurisdictions. Even after the pause, that analytical groundwork remains a strategic asset, providing a clearer roadmap should future transactions arise.

The experience also highlighted the strength of the internal legal team. Kraft Heinz has executed numerous acquisitions and divestitures over the years, and subject matter experts across transactional, regulatory, labor and employment, and intellectual property issues provided rapid guidance.

As the pause took effect, Hamway and his colleagues returned to business as usual while reengaging on projects that had been sidelined. The transition required resilience and disciplined communication across the enterprise.

The evolving role of in-house counsel

Kraft Heinz is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, with iconic brands distributed globally and operations spanning manufacturing plants, distribution networks, and commercial partnerships. Within that environment, Hamway’s portfolio touches supply chain operations, procurement strategy, environmental compliance, and real estate.

Roughly half of his role is transactional. He negotiates supplier agreements, supports capital projects, and evaluates strategic initiatives. At the same time, he oversees regulatory exposure and environmental permitting, coordinating with external counsel where agency engagement is required.

Hamway sees the in-house function expanding. Companies are bringing more complex work inside, driven by cost considerations and the need for closer alignment with business strategy. Technology is also reshaping workflows.

“AI is going to help me, not replace me,” Hamway says.

The past year reinforced a central lesson. Strategy can pivot, and leadership can change, but disciplined execution and steady counsel remain essential. The separation effort demanded extraordinary coordination. The pause demanded equal focus as the company redirected energy toward growth.

For Hamway, the episode underscores why he values the in-house role. Law, in his view, is about helping organizations navigate complexity with integrity. As Kraft Heinz invests in its next phase, Hamway remains focused on enabling the business to move forward with clarity, strengthened by experience and prepared for whatever strategic turn comes next.