1
Pierre Laubies
Designated role: Chief Executive Officer Current role: Chief Executive Officer, DEMB
“Both businesses have a very complimentary footprint and I am excited about the opportunities this partnership will create for people around the world”
Pierre (French) currently leads the DEMB business which he joined in 2013. He has more than 20 years experience in the FMCG industry, and has a wealth of
experience leading organizations in both developed and emerging markets. Pierre spent a large proportion of his career at Mars, where he began in Finance & Business Planning (France) before assuming increasingly senior roles in Sales and General Management across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia.
Pierre left Mars in 1999 to assume the role of European President at the Campbell Soup Company. He later returned in 2002 to ascended from Regional President Latin America to President, Masterfoods Europe, before taking his most recent role as President Global Petcare. Pierre holds a law degree (La Sorbonne’s Ecole de Droit - Law School) and a Bachelor of Sciences degree (Political Science Institute of Paris, FR).
Jan Van Bon
Designated role: Region President, Europe I
Current role: President, Retail Developed Markets
“Together we will be unstoppable on our way to become the world's number 1 coffee player”
Jan (Dutch) joined DEMB in 2013 as President Retail Developed Markets where he oversees Retail Business activities in key coffee drinking regions. He began his career in the telecom industry (KPN) before joining Mars Inc., where he built over 27 years of experience in the FMCG industry across a range of business functions, including Finance, Marketing, Sales and General Management. His last role with Mars was as the European & S. African President for their Petcare business, where he was also a member of their Petcare Board. Jan also held increasingly senior roles in both petcare and snackfood, overseeing operations across Europe and in Germany .
Jan is a qualified CPA (Accountancy) with Business degrees in both Economics & Finance (Groningen, NL) and Marketing (Arnhem, NL). Jan speaks Dutch, English, German and French.
Designated role: Region President, Europe II
Current role: President, Coffee MEU and Global, MDLZ
“Jacobs Douwe Egberts will be a real powerhouse with great prospects for value creation and people growth. With such a strong portfolio of brands, geographies and people, I'm convinced this will be an exciting partnership”
Driven by a passion for building brands and businesses sustainably, Roland (Dutch) joined Mondelēz International in 2011 as Global Vice President, Coffee, leading the strategy, marketing and innovation agenda for coffee and brings over 20 years of FMCG experience in 6 countries with him.
Prior to Mondelēz International, Roland worked for Unilever in a variety of sales, marketing and general management roles in his native Netherlands, as well as in Italy, Ireland and Poland. Among other roles, he was responsible for the successful repositioning and growth of Unilever’s $4Bn ice cream business under a new “Heartbrand” strategy.
Roland holds an MBA in Marketing and Strategic Management from the University of Amsterdam and speaks English, German, Italian and French, in addition to his Dutch mother-tongue.
Taras Lukachuk
Designated role: Region President, EEMEA
Current role: Area Vice President, Ukraine & New Markets of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, MDLZ
“EEMEA’s developed and emerging markets provide a vast and promising territory for our new coffee pure-player.”
Taras (Ukrainian) has over 19 years of experience in the FMCG industry in sales, marketing and general management, having begun his career with Kraft Jacobs Suchard in Ukraine in 1995.
In roles of increasing responsibility, he was responsible for creating and implementing new distribution models in the region, which quickly became the gold standard across the region, and for successfully driving business expansion into new markets. As Area VP for Ukraine, EE and CA, he has driven profitability to best in class levels and ensured growing market share in all global categories in 2013.
3
Peter Mueller
Designated role: President, Out of Home/Professional Current role: Area Director, North Central Europe, MDLZ
“It is exciting to connect our world of iconic coffee brands with consumers across many touch points every day. Our coffee brings people together”
Based in Prague, Peter (Austrian) was appointed Area Managing Director Mondelēz North Central Europe in February 2013, with responsibility for the Polish, Czech and Slovak Republic and Baltic businesses. Before taking up this role he was Managing Director Czech and Slovak Republic from March 2012. Peter joined Kraft Foods in 1993 as Finance Manager of the Austrian Coffee business after several years’ experience in IT and retail banking. He went on to hold managerial roles in various functions before leading the company’s business in East Adriatic Markets and then Romania.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Peter holds a Master's degree in General Management from the University of Applied Sciences in Vienna and an Executive MBA from the University of Vienna
Fiona Hughes
Designated role: President, Category Marketing Current role: SVP Marketing, DEMB
“The combination of our brand portfolios will create a strong departure point for the future of coffee and tea around the world”
Fiona (Australian) joined DEMB in 2013 as SVP Marketing, where she is responsible for the development and execution of Marketing strategies to build equity and drive growth across the entire portfolio of coffee & tea brands.
Previously, Fiona worked for thirteen year at Mars, most recently overseeing their $4Bn global portfolio of Petcare brands. Her Mars career also included roles as Marketing Director for the UK petcare portfolio, European brand leader for the CESAR brand and the head of Marketing in Australia.
She began her career with the Victorian Government of Australia before joining Telstra (a leading Australian Telco). Fiona holds Bachelor degrees (Swinburne, AUS) in both Marketing and Japanese.
Michel Cup
Designated role: Chief Financial Officer Current role: Chief Financial Officer, DEMB
"We have a great heritage, a strong present and an exciting future"
Michel (Dutch) joined DEMB in 2012 as CFO during the spin off from Sara Lee. He began his business career as an accountant with Deloittes – one of the world’s largest accounting and consulting firms – and has since worked for several Dutch companies, including Provimi and Royal Numico N.V. where his role as Regional Vice President for Finance in Asia/Pacific took him to Singapore.
Michel has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting (Hogeschool Sittard, NL) and a post-doctoral degree in Chartered Accounting (Tilburg, NL).
Michel and his partner have lived in Amsterdam for the past three years. Prior to that they lived in Singapore and the US. They enjoy travelling the world to explore and discover new cultures.
David Smith
Designated role: President, Research & Development Current role: Senior Director Coffee R&D, MDLZ
“I am excited that the combined R&D capabilities will provide the technology base that will propel us on our mission to be the world’s #1 Coffee company!”
David (British) has over 20 years of experience in coffee R&D and almost 30 years experience at Mondelez/Kraft. He is accountable for all R&D activities for Mondelez International’s Global Coffee business.
During his career at Mondelez, David has been responsible for European chocolate R&D, as well as working on global packaging initiatives. As Director, Coffee Product and Pack development EMEA, he was also one of the co-inventors of the Tassimo brewing system that uses an intelligent pack solution.
David has lived and worked in over seven countries and has played key roles in several R&D integrations. He graduated from Loughborough University in the UK and holds a PhD from Bradford University.
5
Designated role: President, Operations Current role: SVP, Operations, DEMB
“Lean manufacturing, agile supply chain and smart supplier partnerships will help us outperform competition.”
Luc (French) joined DEMB in 2012 as SVP Operations, where he oversees all green coffee sourcing, direct and indirect purchasing, manufacturing and supply chain activities. Prior to joining DEMB he led the integrated global supply chain of GrandVision, the world’s second largest optical retailer.
Throughout his career, Luc has built an extensive track record in operations at organizations including Danone and Numico. His international experience includes assignments in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland. He was the founding partner of Upstream Consultancy and now serves on the supervisory board of MCI Group Holding.
Luc holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture and Food Science and he has been an Invited Professor at IMD for one full year. Luc is married, with five children and is an avid marathon runner.
Luc Volatier
Chet Kuchinad
Designated role: Chief Human Resources Officer Current role: SVP Human Resources, DEMB
“A global portfolio of leading brands driven by global team of highly skilled associates bound by a strong set of real values.. It’s the birth of something very special”
Chet (American) joined DEMB in 2014 as SVP HR, where he leads the global Human Resources function responsible for the people and operational strategies, as a member of the DEMB executive committee.
Prior to DEMB he gained over 20 years of consulting and business HR experience amongst iconic people driven organizations including McDonalds, Nike and
Starbucks. Throughout his career he has held a number of senior generalist HR roles within complex geographies, business structures, and new business development.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Economics (Bombay, IND) and a Master of Science in Statistics (Marquette, US).
