Investment banker and real estate investor
Board Member, Hershey Foods Corporation; Board Member, Neighborhood Youth Association, a nonprofit organization that provides counseling and tutorial services to at-risk and/or underprivileged youth in west Los Angeles; Member, MHS Alumni Council; Recipient of Investors in Education Award of Excellence. A member of the MHS Class of 1977. ROBERT F. CAVANAUGH, age 55, has been a Hershey director since October 2003. He chairs the Compensation and Executive Organization Committee and is a member of the Finance and Risk Management Committee, the Governance Committee and the Executive Committee. Mr. Cavanaugh is Chairman of the board of directors of Hershey Trust Company and the board of managers of Milton Hershey School. He is one of three representatives of the Milton Hershey School Trust currently serving on our Board. Mr. Cavanaugh, a 1977 graduate of Milton Hershey School, brings unique perspectives to our Board not only as a representative of our largest stockholder, but also of the school that is its sole beneficiary. Mr. Cavanaugh formerly served as the Chief Executive Officer of ValueRock Investment Partners, Irvine, California, an owner/operator of retail real estate properties located throughout the western United States. He held that position from January 2013 to February 2014. From October 2011 to January 2013, Mr. Cavanaugh was Chief Investment Officer of Vestar Development Company, Phoenix, Arizona, one of the leading privately held retail real estate operating companies in the western United States. From October 1999 to October 2011, he was Managing Director of DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, Los Angeles, California, a leading global real estate private equity firm. Prior to joining DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, Mr. Cavanaugh held positions with Deutsche Bank Securities (where he founded and oversaw that firm’s real estate investment banking effort on the West Coast), Goldman, Sachs & Co. and LaSalle Partners. He has experience in investment banking, finance, real estate and risk management. Mr. Cavanaugh holds a bachelor’s degree in economics, cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School where he earned academic honors.
