Just two months after jettisoning its previous CEO, Danone SA today (May 17) announced Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Barry Callebaut, as its new CEO. He will start Sept. 15.
“As a board we have delivered on our promise to … find swiftly the best person to lead Danone through the next phase of our evolution," said Chairman Gilles Schnepp.
De Saint-Affrique became CEO of global chocolate maker and cocoa processor Barry Callebaut in October 2015. Prior to that, he had held a series of senior executive positions at Unilever, where he once led the foods division.
In perhaps a bow toward certain institutional investors, Schnepp added: "The Board is confident that Antoine, together with the rest of the leadership team, will deliver sustainable value for shareholders and all our stakeholders."
Danone, which underperformed during the pandemic (sales dropped 6.6%), has been under pressure from activist investors Blue Bell Capital Partners and Artisan Partners. On March 1, the board announced it was separating the roles of CEO and chairman. Emmanuel Faber stepped down as CEO but maintained his title as chairman. Two weeks later, he was out completely.
Since then, the yogurt and water company has been jointly run by Véronique Penchienati-Bosetta in Europe and Shane Grant in North America. De Saint-Affrique will be nominated as a director next year but Schnepp apparently will remain chairman.
De Saint-Affrique has lived in Africa, the U.S., Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia, and the United Kingdom. He served as a reserve naval officer between 1987 and 1988. He is a member of the board of directors of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce and a non-executive director at Burberry PLC.
