The Swiss-Irish Food Group Aryzta has announced the Board has appointed Keith Cooper, a Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting as CEO of its Americas business on an interim basis.
Keith is the leader of FTI’s Performance Improvement practice in the US and a senior executive in FTI’s Corporate Finance division.
He has been supporting Aryzta management in North America on business optimization and efficiency improvements since March 2017.
Ronan Minahan has decided to take this opportunity to pursue other interests and is stepping down as COO Americas with immediate effect.
He will continue to be available to support Keith and the management team to progress operational efficiency and EBITDA enhancement opportunities.
In a statement, the Board of Aryzta expressing its gratitude to Ronan for dedicating more than 10 years service to the company and assuming additional responsibilities since February of this year.
Aryzta is a food business based in Zurich with operations in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
The group has a leadership position in the speciality frozen bakery sector and is a global supplier of baked goods to the foodservice, retail and quick service restaurant sectors.
However the company has issued a series of profit alerts and disappointing earnings in the past two years, partly because of the poor performance of its US arm.
Source: Food Ingredients First
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Schai – who is the current CEO of Swiss chocolate company Lindt & Sprüngli’s Australian operation – has previously worked with Aryzta from 2015-2018, where he served in roles including managing director for Asia Pacific and global strategic business lead (McDonald’s). The fast-food giant McDonald’s is one of Aryzta’s significant clients.
