Multinational dairy giant Danone has announced a changing of the guard at top level, revealing that its board has decided to replace its current CEO and chairman.

In a statement today (Monday, March 15), the firm behind the Activia, Actimel and Alpro brands revealed a shake-up of key governance changes.

Danone has a sizeable presence in Ireland, operating two baby formula production plants in Wexford and Macroom, Co. Cork.

“The board has decided that Emmanuel Faber will step down as chairman and CEO,” the statement said.

As a consequence, it has appointed Gilles Schnepp as chairman of the board with immediate effect.

“Second, the board has decided to appoint Véronique Penchienati-Bosetta, currently chief executive officer international, and Shane Grant, currently chief executive officer North America, to jointly lead the business while the search for a new CEO is underway,” the board’s statement added.

Penchienati-Bosetta and Grant will work together as CEO and deputy CEO respectively on an interim basis, “with a focused attention on operational execution and delivery”, the company said.

It was stressed that the immediate priority of the new chairman, together with the board, will be to lead the transition, including the search for a new CEO, with an international search agency appointed to support the process.

The board said that Schnepp will be supported by the executive VP chairman’s office, Laurent Sacchi, the chief financial officer Juergen Esser and the full executive committee.

The move follows recent calls from Bluebell Capital Partners – a significant shareholder in the Danone business – that the firm should bring in an “external CEO” and split the roles of chairman and CEO.

Reported by Bloomberg News, Bluebell Capital said Danone was “hit harder than rivals” by the disruption caused by Covid-19 in 2020, with Danone’s shares losing a quarter of their value in 2020 and sales fell for the first time in over 30 years.

Gilles Schnepp, Chairman of Danone, said:

The priority of the board is now to transition towards an improved governance. This means accelerating the process to recruit a new CEO, while Véronique and Shane continue to lead the business during this period.

“I look forward to working with the board to support them in their interim roles, and the wider management team as they accelerate our efforts to create value for all our stakeholders.”