Francis Kint will step down as chief operating officer at Greenyard Foods to become chief executive officer of the Vion Food Group, a Dutch meat processing company with turnover of approximately EUR 5 billion last year, effective September 1. He will maintain ties with Ghent, Belgium-headquartered Greenyard Foods in the capacities of non-executive board director and member of its strategic committee.
Kint’s service with Univeg began in 2009, when he started out as managing director of its operation in Germany. For the past two years, prior to the company’s recent merger with Greenyard Foods and Peatinvest, he served as ceo of the Univeg Group.
Francis Kint will soon head up the Vion Food Group.Before joining Univeg, Kint was the president of European operations for global consumer goods marketer Fiskars. From 1995-2004 he was vice president at Chiquita for North and Eastern Europe markets. Prior to that he worked for Sara Lee and was a consultant at Accenture.
“We thank Francis for his seven years at Univeg, during which time he was the engine of integration after a period of fast growth,” said Hein Deprez, executive chairman of Greenyard Foods. “We are very pleased that he will stay on as non-executive board member, because of his in-depth knowledge of the fruit and vegetable business.”
Greenyard Foods CEO Marleen Vaesen, who will assume Kint’s responsibilities, commented: “We will redesign the company’s structure to fully support the recent merger and to enhance the synergies between the fresh, prepared and substrates business segments…We are confident that we have the right strategy to create profitable growth and build Greenyard Foods into a unique, leading world player in Fruit and Vegetables.”
The company, which employs nearly 8,200 people in 27 countries, generated turnover of EUR 3.9 billion during the fiscal year that ended on March 30. It ranks #2 in the European frozen vegetable sector with its Pinguin unit, No. 5 in canned fruit and vegetables in Europe with the Noliko division, No. 2 globally in the fresh fruit and vegetable market, and #3 in the European soil substrates field.
