Prepared foods manufacturer Bakkavor Group has announced the appointment of Umran Beba as an independent non-executive director to its board, effective 1 September 2020.
She will also be a member of the company’s remuneration and nomination committees, the company added.
An Experienced Executive
Beba is a senior business executive with a general management background and expertise in talent and diversity.
Presently, she serves as a partner at the executive search firm, August Leadership.
In May of this year, she retired from PepsiCo Inc after a stint of 25 years.
Her last role with the company was that of senior vice president and chief global diversity and engagement officer.
Previously, she served in various commercial and functional roles for PepsiCo in the Asia Pacific and southeast Europe divisions, including chief human resources officer for Asia, Middle East, North Africa, and senior vice president of global human capital management.
'Commercial Outlook'
Commenting on her appointment, chairman of Bakkavor, Simon Burke, said, “Umran [Beba] brings a strong and relevant commercial outlook through her experience of running food and beverage operations in numerous regions, including Turkey, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the US.
“This skillset, combined with her more recent global role in the area of workforce diversity and employee engagement, will further strengthen the diverse mix of skills and experience on the Board.”
Beba started her career with Colgate Palmolive in various marketing roles before joining PepsiCo in the Frito-Lay division as the marketing director of Turkey.
She served as an independent non-executive director on the board of Calbee, Inc, a Japanese snack foods manufacturer, from 2010 to 2015.
At present, she serves on the boards of the International Youth Foundation and Neighbors Link, a trustee at Purchase College Foundation.
She was also a future council member of the World Economic Forum and for eight years until June 2020.
Beba stated, “I look forward to applying my commercial and functional knowledge and experience of the consumer goods industry, specifically the food and beverage market, to support Bakkavor.
“I am also excited to work with experienced leaders, both at Board and management level, to create value together for the shareholders, consumers, customers and the associates of this Company."
She holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Bogaziçi University in Istanbul.
Other Management Changes
Elsewhere, independent non-executive director and chair of the nomination committee Todd Krasnow has decided to step down from the board on 19 October 2020, following the completion of his three-year term.
Chairman of the company, Simon Burke, will assume the role of the chairman of the nomination committee from 19 October 2020, Bakkavor said in its statement.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
