Mark Clouse is leaving one team with a winning record to join another. 

The Campbell's Company (CPB) — maker of iconic chicken noodle soup and Rao's pasta sauce — said late Tuesday that Clouse will retire to become president of the NFL's Washington Commanders. He has been CEO since 2019. 

Snagging Clouse's corner office is Mick Beekhuizen. He joined Clouse's executive team in September 2019 as CFO, and has led the $5.3 billion meals and beverage division as president since 2022. 

Beekhuizen will assume the role officially on Feb. 1, 2025.

Shares of Campbell's fell nearly 4% in after-hours trading on the news, as well as the company only reaffirming its full year guidance.

"Campbell’s will always hold a special place in my heart. While I am stepping away a bit earlier than I anticipated, I feel like I have one more act in my career. The Washington Commanders role is a once-in-a-lifetime position that blends my passion for business and love of sports. A leadership role in professional sports is the only thing that would’ve pulled me away from Campbell’s," Clouse said in a statement. 

Clouse has run a masterclass in reinventing a household name.

When Clouse parachuted into then Campbell Soup's Camden, N.J., headquarters on Jan. 22, 2019, he came into a historic food company taking fire from all sides.

Public bickering between descendants of Campbell Soup founder John T. Dorrance. An attack by prominent activist investor Dan Loeb of Third Point. Its stock price dropped 9% from Dec. 19, 2017, to Dec. 19, 2018, amid poor execution of two large acquisitions (Bolthouse Farms, Snyder's-Lance) from a prior CEO and subpar financial results.

Clouse, the former CEO of Pinnacle Foods, wasted no time channeling the leadership skills he learned as a pilot in the United States Army, a decorated career that concluded with him serving as captain.

Chiefly: he moved swiftly to make bold decisions. In April 2019, Campbell's unloaded the financially volatile Bolthouse Farms beverage business for $510 million to private equity firm Butterfly. 

Come August 2019, Clouse sold its Australian snacks unit, Arnott's, to KKR for $2.2 billion.

Campbell made another divesture in 2023: the sale of its Emerald nuts business to private label manufacturer Flagstone Foods.

"Our biggest challenge as a company is that we had cast a lot of lines in a lot of different directions. The unintended consequence of that is your core business begins to become a little bit more of an afterthought, a bit neglected," Clouse explained in an interview on Yahoo Finance's Lead This Way (video above). 

"So we said right away, it's going be one geography, North America; two divisions, a snacks division and meals and beverage division; and 13 categories. This is where we have the right to win. This is where we have the know-how and the capabilities to be successful."

Clouse's big bets during the portfolio rejiggering?

Innovation in soup — think Ghost Pepper Chicken Noodle. Innovation in snacks — like Frank's RedHot sauce-flavored Goldfish.

The tighter focus on core competencies — and changes to household food consumption post-pandemic — has seen Campbell add more than $1 billion in sales from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2024.

Shares of Campbell's are up 32% since Clouse's first day on the job, relatively in line with big packaged foods player Coca-Cola (KO). PepsiCo (PEP) — which operates the Frito Lay snacks division — has seen its stock rise 42% during the same stretch. Spam-maker Hormel's (HRL) stock has dropped 23% since January 2019, according to Yahoo Finance data.

As a swan song some would say, Campbell last year plunked down $2.7 billion to buy high-end pasta sauce brand Rao's. The company — which went public in 2021 — joined a Campbell portfolio of lower-priced sauce Prego and Swanson broths.

At an investor day several months ago, Clouse changed the company's name to The Campbell's Company from Campbell's Soup. The move was meant to reflect the company selling more than just soup — everything from Snyder's-Lance pretzels to Goldfish crackers to Rao's pasta sauce.

The Washington Commanders sit in second place in the NFC East with a record of 8-5, behind the Philadelphia Eagles. Knowing Clouse, overtaking the Eagles in the division in 2025 is already on the to-do list.

Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.

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