Irene Rosenfeld to retire from Mondelez; former McCain chief becomes new CEO
August 3, 2017 – Irene Rosenfeld plans to step down from her role as CEO of Mondelez International, the world’s second-largest confectionary company, this November and will also retire as chairman of the board on March 31, 2018. Rosenfeld’s successor in both of these positions is Dirk Van de Put (pictured), former president and CEO of McCain Foods.
Rosenfeld made big and transformative bets over the course of her career with the company, Fortune reports. After becoming CEO of Kraft in 2006, Rosenfeld acquired Cadbury for nearly $20 billion in 2010 and subsequently split Kraft into two to create Mondelez. Rosenfeld then opted to run Mondelez, Kraft’s one-time global snacking business, which was the smaller of the two.
Before joining Canadian-based McCain Foods, Van de Put held management positions at Novartis, Danone, Mars and Coca-Cola. During his tenure at McCain, Van de Put grew net sales 50 per cent and EBITDA double digits for each of the past six years, Fortune reports.
McCain Foods has appointed Max Koeune to succeed Van de Put as president and CEO. Koeune assumes the role of CEO-designate immediately and then president and CEO from November 1, 2017. Koeune joined McCain as chief financial officer in 2013. Prior to that, Koeune held senior management roles at Danone, including head of corporate development.
