NORTHFIELD, ILL. — Timothy R. McLevish, executive vice-president and chief financial officer at Kraft Foods Inc., will leave the company later this year to pursue opportunities in general management. He will be succeeded by David Brearton, who currently is executive vice-president of operations at Kraft.

Mr. Brearton has been with Kraft since 1984, and has held a variety of senior finance roles, including senior vice-president of finance for Kraft Foods International and corporate controller. He also has served as head of operations, overseeing Kraft’s procurement, manufacturing and customer service and logistics functions.

“We sincerely thank Tim for his many contributions to Kraft Foods,” said Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and chief executive officer. “From the beginning of his tenure as c.f.o. and our spin-off from Altria, Tim has had a clear mandate to reshape the portfolio and our capital structure, which he accomplished with the highest quality results. He was instrumental in several important transactions that have in fact transformed our portfolio and improved our growth trajectory, including the split-off of Post cereals, the sale of the North American frozen pizza business, and the acquisition of Cadbury. Tim, along with the rest of the management team, executed our three-year turnaround plan and established a foundation to drive down costs and overheads, while markedly improving the company’s cash flow. We will miss Tim’s perspective and commitment, but we respect his desire to take on new and different challenges. We wish him the very best.”

Kraft said it has begun an external search to fill Mr. Brearton’s role as executive vice-president of operations.