Ardo’s board of directors has announced that Gabrielle Kalkwijk will take up the position of group CEO starting from October 1, 2019. She will succeed Rik Jacob, who retired earlier this summer.
Kalkwijk graduated from the Agricultural University of Wageningen in the Netherlands and has since made a successful career in the food industry.
Until 1 October of this year, Kalkwijk is President of Global Manufacturing Operations for Dawn Foods, an American family business of bakery ingredients and frozen bakery products produced in 17 factories, seven of which are in Europe, serving a customer base of bakers, foodservice, retail and industry, that creates a revenue of USD1.8bn net sales. Kalkwijk joined Dawn Foods in 2011 as VP Operations and Supply Chain for Europe and AMEAP (Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific), where she was responsible for purchasing, production, supply chain, quality, regulatory and safety, and achieved strong results year after year.
Prior to 2011, she spent 20 years with FrieslandCampina. She worked in a variety of Plant Manager and Operations Manager roles, in different European countries.
“After a careful selection process by the Board of Directors and the shareholders, we are pleased that Mrs. Kalkwijk is taking on the exciting challenge of leading Ardo. In addition to the wealth of international experience that Mrs. Kalkwijk has gained in the food industry, we were particularly impressed by her leadership qualities in both developing people and creating results,” said Philippe Haspeslagh, chairman of the Board of Directors at Ardo.
Kalkwijk will take up her duties on October 1, 2019 and following a short introductory period will take charge of the management team and the company, reporting to the Board of Directors.
