Kraft Heinz names Nicolas Amaya as president of North America business

Feb 18 (Reuters) - Kraft Heinz KHC.O named former Kellanova executive Nicolas Amaya as president of its North America business on Wednesday, a week after hitting pause on its plans to split the company.

Last week, the packaged food maker, which has been struggling with persistent demand weakness in the U.S., halted its efforts to separate into two entities and announced new investments to boost its business.

Kraft Heinz's new CEO Steve Cahillane, also a former Kellanova executive, said the decision to hit pause on the split was necessary owing to deteriorating conditions in the food industry, though he called the challenges "fixable and within our control".

Amaya, who has years of experience in working across the consumer packaged goods industry, would be succeeding Pedro Navio, effective February 23.

The company said Amaya would oversee strategy, operations and performance across Kraft Heinz's North American market, its largest revenue generator.

Amaya had most recently served in senior executive roles at Kellanova. He worked closely with Cahillane during his term as CEO at Kellanova until it was acquired by Mars.