ANNOUNCEMENT / MEDEDELING / COMMUNICATION / MITTEILUNG Ghent, November 15, 2017 – Bernard Deryckere, current CEO of Alpro who has been leading the company for the last 16 years, is stepping down and handing over management responsibility to Sven Lamote. He will be tasked to prepare the Alpro plant-based business for its next stage of growth as the company’s new General Manager, building on Bernard Deryckere’s legacy.
Six months have passed since Alpro joined Danone through the WhiteWave merger. Bernard Deryckere, an icon in the plant-based business, led Alpro to great heights, increasing turnover and headcount some six-fold over a period of 16 years. After the merger, Bernard facilitated the integration between Alpro and Danone, creating the right environment for plant-based to accelerate.
Danone now wants to further accelerate the momentum by combining the expertise of Alpro with the distribution and geographical footprint of Danone, both in Europe and beyond current core markets of Alpro. To help deliver on this ambition, Sven Lamote, Vice President Customer Development of Alpro since 2014, will now be appointed as the new General Manager of Alpro, to steer the plant-based business to the next stage of growth and deliver more choice to consumers who increasingly enjoy plant-based products.
