Hain Celestial appoints Mark Schiller as its new CEO

Hain Celestial has appointed former PepsiCo and Pinnacle Foods executive Mark Schiller as its new president and chief executive officer, effective from 5 November 2018.

Schiller succeeds the company’s founder Irwin Simon, who had served as the company’s CEO for the last 25 years, and the company had announced that Simon would step down earlier this year amid mounting pressure from activist investor Engaged Capital, which bought a stake in the company last year.

Schiller has over 25 years of executive experience in food and beverage companies, and Schiller most recently served as Pinnacle Foods’ executive vice-president and chief commercial officer.

In this role, Schiller led all of the company’s key commercial functions, including product development, package design, marketing strategy and more, and Hain Celestial claims he “helped orchestrate a multi-year turnaround and delivered record market share gains, sales growth, gross margin and profit growth.”

Schiller said: “I am excited and honoured to have the opportunity to lead Hain Celestial, and have long admired the Company’s vision and mission for its organic, natural and better-for-you brands.

“I am proud of what we accomplished during my eight years at Pinnacle Foods, and believe in driving continuous operational improvements while making disciplined investments in innovation and brand building to achieve success at Hain Celestial.

“I look forward to working with the team as we build upon the Company’s strong foundation and take Hain Celestial’s business to the next level of growth.”

Simon added: “Mark is an incredibly talented executive and I am confident he can lead Hain Celestial in its next phase of growth to generate value for all of our stakeholders.

“His disciplined management style, entrepreneurial spirit and relentless passion for profitable growth will serve Hain Celestial well as our team works to further advance our strategic objectives.”

Andrew Heyer, Hain Celestial’s lead director added: “Mark is a highly accomplished consumer packaged foods executive with an impressive track record of reinvigorating growth and improving margins for many iconic brands.

“Under Mark’s leadership, Hain Celestial will accelerate its business transformation through the execution of our four-point strategic plan investing in top brands and capabilities to grow globally, delivering on Project Terra cost savings, continually enhancing leadership across the organization, and building upon our enviable position as a leader in organic, natural and better-for-you products, to create sustainable, long-term value for our stockholders.”