The UK division of dairy giant FrieslandCampina has appointed its current Grocery & Marketing Director, Will Jones, to the role of Managing Director. He succeeds Gavin Blair who has led the company for the past three years.
Having previously held director roles in both marketing and commercial, Jones will now take full accountability for the direction and performance of the business from next month.
He said: “I’m unbelievably excited to take on this role. It’s going to be a challenge – we’ve got big ambitions for the organisation. All credit to Gavin, we’re already performing incredibly well – the business grew by 4% in 2018 and is currently on track to grow a further 9% in 2019. Now we want to take it to the next level, with ambition to double in size within the next five years.
“Our powerhouse brand, YAZOO will be key to that. While it’s already the number one flavoured milk drink brand in the UK, and outperforming the category with double digit YOY growth (+11%), we’ve identified plenty more opportunities to grow the channels and formats it appears in. Plus, we’ll be making smart choices in private label sector, which is a rapidly growing part of our business. With the support of our parent company there are also opportunities to launch new brands within the UK market. I’ll say no more, other than watch this space…”
