An announcement on Mr Maher’s successor will be made in the coming weeks.
Tony Maher commented: “The last five years as chief executive of Wimm-Bill-Dann have been some of the most exciting and satisfying of my career. I am pleased that I have accomplished almost everything I set out to do when I joined the company. I was lucky to have had a rare professional opportunity to shape the future of one of Russia’s most advanced companies and have a strong influence on the overall development of the Russian consumer market.
“My focus has always been to develop the company, its people and its products for the long-term. I have had the privilege of working with a fantastic team of people on every level of the company. Now I really believe Wimm-Bill-Dann and its remarkable people have a great future ahead as part of a more global organisation.”
Sergey Plastinin, chairman of the board of directors of Wimm-Bill-Dann, said: “On behalf of the board of directors and Wimm-Bill-Dann’s founders I want to thank Tony for a job well done and for delivering on his promise to create long-term shareholder value.
“When he first joined us, our market cap was just over $1 billion and less than five years later the company was valued at nearly $6 billion. He streamlined the company, recruited top Russian and international management talent, concentrated resources on winning brands and opened up a whole new market segment with our Zdraivery umbrella brand for kids – all in a very short period of time and in the face of very challenging market conditions. He enhanced our leadership in dairy and baby food and led a brilliant recovery in our juice business.
“Throughout, he stuck to Wimm-Bill-Dann’s core principles of entrepreneurship, transparency and an open corporate culture and he will go down in history for leading Wimm-Bill-Dann to join PepsiCo in one of the most significant deals for modern Russia. We truly wish Tony every success in the future.”
Source: Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC
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