Amid Ongoing Acrimony and Spinoff, Unilever Names New CEO at Ben & Jerry’s
Unilever apparently has appointed a new CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, as it continues to battle the ice cream brand’s social activism and the entire Unilever ice cream business prepares to be spun off.
Jochanan Senf, a longtime Unilever executive who was managing director of Ben & Jerry’s Europe business, will start in the new role sometime this month – that’s according to the Wall Street Journal. There’s no mention of the appointment on the Unilever or Ben & Jerry’s websites.
Senf ultimately replaces David Stever, who was CEO of B&J until his abrupt departure in March. Ben & Jerry’s independent board in a court filing accused Unilever of firing Stever, who had been with the company since 1988. Unilever said Stever actually quit instead of being “promoted” and transferred elsewhere. It came after clashes between the two businesses over Ben & Jerry’s social and political activism, which apparently didn’t jibe with Unilever’s.
Ben & Jerry’s board — which was created and given certain powers as part of the Unilever's agreement to buy the Vermont company in 2000 — was not allowed to interview candidates to replace Stever, a source told the Journal.
Meanwhile, all of Unilever’s global ice cream businesses, including B&J, are being spun off as Magnum Ice Cream Co. The operational separation happened earlier this month, although Magnum still is under Unilever’s wing. Sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, the separation will be complete. Magnum will be incorporated and headquartered in the Netherlands, with shares listed in Amsterdam, London and New York.
About the Author
Dave Fusaro
Editor in Chief
Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.