Antoine de Saint-Affrique to become CEO of Barry Callebaut

The Board of Directors of Barry Callebaut has appointed Antoine de Saint-Affrique as new CEO.

Effective 01 October 2015, Antoine de Saint-Affrique will take over the role from Juergen Steinemann who was elected Vice Chairman of the Board in December 2014.

Antoine de Saint-Affrique is currently President of Unilever Foods and a Member of Unilever’s Group Executive Committee. He is accountable for businesses with a combined turnover of EUR 12.4 billion across eight regions and three categories, including Unilever’s Foodservice Division and the newly formed Baking, Cooking & Spreading company. Since 2009, Antoine de SaintAffrique has also served as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Essilor, a world leader in ophthalmic optical products.

Andreas Jacobs, Chairman of the Board of Barry Callebaut, said, “With Antoine de SaintAffrique, the Board has appointed a new CEO with an impressive track record in the food industry. Antoine’s excellent knowledge of consumer markets, his strong customer and stakeholder focus, his extensive international working experience, and his remarkable success in building and integrating new businesses as well as rebalancing portfolios towards faster growing geographies and segments made him the right candidate for CEO after the completion of a thorough evaluation process. The Board is excited to have Antoine de Saint-Affrique join our company. We are convinced his entrepreneurial spirit, strategic skills and great motivational talent will lead Barry Callebaut to the next level of growth.”

Barry Callebaut is one of the fastest growing global food companies

Antoine de Saint-Affrique said, “I am honoured to be given the opportunity to lead and further shape the world’s leading chocolate and cocoa company as its CEO. Barry Callebaut offers a unique environment since it combines three qualities which rarely come together: a global leader, which is publicly listed, but also a family company with longer-term purpose, vision and a strong entrepreneurial spirit.”

Andreas Jacobs continueds “I am very grateful to Juergen Steinemann for his passionate commitment to our company and his outstanding leadership since joining our company in 2009. Together with our Executive Committee and our dedicated staff, Juergen has successfully led the further development and consistent implementation of our long-term strategy and transformed Barry Callebaut into the world’s leading chocolate and cocoa company. Barry Callebaut now has an unprecedented, truly global footprint, including strong platforms in emerging markets, and remains one of the fastest growing global food companies. In parallel, the company has been prepared for further growth by implementing processes and structures that are necessary to partner with global customers. With his passion for people, Juergen has led the design and implementation of a modern HR structure that enables us to attract, develop and retain the talents we need to achieve further growth. Our Board is very happy that we will be able to further benefit from Juergen’s wealth of experience in his capacity as Vice Chairman.”