After five years on the job, Marleen Vaesen stepped down as chief executive officer of Greenyard on January 31. She was replaced by Hein Deprez, who while relinquishing his post as executive chairman of the board of directors to Koen Hoffmann, remains an active board member.
Carl Peeters, former chief financial officer of the Sint-Katelijne, Belgium-headquartered prepared vegetables and fruits, flowers and plants and growing media company, has been named to the newly created post of chief operating officer. Deprez and Peeters now jointly lead Greenyard, which has begun a search for a new chief financial officer.
Vaesen, who became CEO of Greenyard Foods in 2012, took the helm of the enlarged Greenyard enterprise in 2015 as the company grouped its Pinguin frozen vegetables and fruits division and Noliko canned vegetables operation with Univeg and Peatinvest under a common banner. She was responsible for building the structure of future development, aligning entities and bringing new personnel on board.
“I would like to thank Marleen for her valuable contribution of transforming Greenyard into today’s modern, strong company. We wish her the very best in her future endeavors,” said CEO Deprez. “After the initial transformation period following the merger, the announced management changes are a next step to further execute our strategy. By doing so, we will focus even more on our strategy and priorities to continue generating profitable growth and strengthening our global leadership position in fruits and vegetables.’
Greenyard has provided Vaesen with severance pay in line with her remuneration in 2016-17, as stipulated in the company’s annual report.
In other news, Tim Van Londersele has been tapped to lead all Greenyard Fresh operations, except the Greenyard Bakker business, which will be managed by Irénke Meekma. Long Fresh will be steered by Charles-Henri Deprez, and Stefaan Vandaele will continue to lead the Horticulture segment.
The Deprez family boosted ownership of Greenyard from 45.3% to 49.3% in 2017, following the purchase of Agri Investment Fund (AIF) shares on July 31. Taking into account other shares that Greenyard acquired, the 50% control threshold has been exceeded by the Deprez family, through Deprez Holding NV and Food Invest International NV, as a result of this purchase.
