Built for Bold Solutions

When Svetlana Pena talks about innovation, she doesn’t start with buzzwords — she starts with people. For “Lana,” as she is affectionately known by her colleagues, every breakthrough begins with a simple question: What problem are we solving, and who are we solving it for? It’s a perspective shaped by a lifetime of adaptation, resilience and a passion for making life easier for families everywhere.

“I like complex challenges and problems,” she says. “Give me a problem, and I’m going to try to solve it. I can’t stop.”

As innovation lead for pipeline creation at Hormel Foods, Lana guides long-term strategy across the company’s retail portfolio, identifying where unmet needs exist, and working with teams to deliver solutions that are intuitive, accessible and relevant. Her approach is both methodical and deeply human.

A Global Perspective Rooted in Real Life

Lana’s story begins half a world away, growing up in Russia during the final years of the Soviet Union. Her earliest memories are marked by ration cards, long lines, and the rare treat of imported goods like SPAM^® ️classic or canned tangerines. “There was nothing in the stores — nothing,” she recalls. These formative experiences taught her that food isn’t just sustenance — it’s a solution, a comfort, and sometimes a lifeline.

After an early career in Russia’s travel industry and an MBA journey that brought her to Minnesota, Lana honed her skills in global product development at Johnson & Johnson before joining Hormel Foods in 2019. The move was liberating — the feeling of coming home. At Hormel Foods, she found a company culture that values stability, human connection and a genuine sense of community.

Building Success Through Perseverance

Lana’s early days at Hormel Foods immediately tested her problem-solving abilities. Joining the company just before the pandemic, she was thrown into launching all-new breakfast products for the BLACK LABEL^® brand while navigating the massive disruptions across the food industry.

“When I came in we had projects at the halfway point and we needed to go fast and furious at the exact time that COVID hit,” she recalls. The challenge of coordinating development virtually while learning company processes as a newcomer could have derailed her progress on key projects. Instead, Lana’s analytical approach and puzzle-solving mindset helped deliver successful product launches on schedule.

Her supervisor at the time, Beth Fehrenbacher, then-senior manager of the HORMEL^® NATURAL CHOICE^® brand, was impressed by Lana’s unique ability to map out creative analytical frameworks that revealed gaps between ambitious goals and actual plans. “She was the first person that really started to articulate, ‘OK, in order for us to hit that goal, that means that we need to have this level of innovation,’” Fehrenbacher said. “Lana has a knack for that.”

“She was the first person that really started to articulate, ‘OK, in order for us to hit that goal, that means we need to have this level of innovation’. Lana has a knack for that.”
Beth Fehrenbacher, Innovation Team Lead at Hormel Foods

What impressed Fehrenbacher and colleagues most was Lana’s multifaceted approach to problem-solving. “Not only is she honest and clear about problems, but she always comes to the table with solutions to solve them,” Fehrenbacher said. “Because it’s one thing to point it out. It’s a whole other thing to have a starting point or an insightful idea.”

Innovation That Puts Families First

Lana now leads strategy across snacking, convenient meals and proteins for Hormel Foods — working closely with time-honored brands like PLANTERS^®, SPAM^® and COLUMBUS^® Craft Meats. Her approach is refreshingly direct: “We always have the real lives of consumers in our minds, with the goal of making their life easier.” That means rethinking not just what food is, but how it fits into the rhythms of daily life.

“We always have the real lives of consumers in our minds, with the goal of making their life easier.”
Svetlana Pena, Innovation Lead at Hormel Foods

“People don’t live in product categories,” Lana explains. “They live in occasions, in moments. What we think is breakfast might be eaten at 2 p.m. Or maybe it’s grabbed on the go while taking care of a kid or commuting. There are dozens of moments like these that we need to solve for.”

Lana challenges the “one-size-fits-all” mindset that can make food categories feel stale and commoditized. Her team analyzes how different households — whether solo city dwellers or large families — need different product sizes, price points and packaging. The goal? To deliver real value, reduce food waste, and make mealtime joyful for everyone.

Lana isn’t afraid to shake up tradition. By working closely with R&D, her team has pioneered rapid development sprints — compressing months of product development into days. Whether it’s narrowing down hundreds of flavor samples for the PLANTERS^® brand or launching new bacon varieties in record time, the results are faster, more collaborative and laser-focused on what families actually want.

Global Insights, Local Solutions

Lana’s international background has become a secret ingredient in the company’s innovation strategy. By studying how SPAM^® products are enjoyed during Lunar New Year in Asia or how gifting traditions shape packaging, her team brings global inspiration to local shelves. “For the SPAM^® brand innovation strategy, we want to grow with our fastest growing consumer group, which is Asian households,” she explains.

Passionate about staying at the forefront of food, health and technology, Lana is a regular at conferences. She’s always learning from fields as diverse as artificial intelligence and microbiome science — looking to spark fresh thinking, challenge assumptions and bring new ideas back to the teams she leads.

“Gen Z wants to see impact,” she says. “They want to know they’re doing something meaningful. I think Hormel Foods can be a great place for that if we keep showing up in the right ways — as an innovative, collaborative place that cares about its people and the world.”

At the heart of Lana’s work is a simple promise: to make life easier, tastier, and more joyful for families everywhere. By listening closely, learning broadly, and never losing sight of the real people behind every meal, Lana and Hormel Foods are solving for what’s next — one delicious innovation at a time.