The Barry Callebaut board has appointed Masha Vis-Mertens as chief human resources officer (CHRO) and as member of the executive committee.
Ms Vis-Mertens, currently vice president operations & supply chain EMEA, is succeeding Isabelle Esser, who has decided to pursue her career outside the Barry Callebaut Group.
Ms Vis-Mertens joined Barry Callebaut in 2012 as global corporate account manager operations & supply chain, assumed the role of global corporate account director in 2014, successfully growing Barry Callebaut’s global partnerships.
In 2017 she Vis Mertens was appointed vice president human resources EMEA. In this role she focused on talent development and retention by creating a more collaborative culture and a well-structured onboarding of new employees. Since 2019 she has been vice president operations & supply chain EMEA. Before joining Barry Callebaut, she worked at Cargill in a variety of supply chain roles. Ms Vis-Mertens holds a Bachelor’s degree in French and Russian and a Master’s in European Studies from the University of Amsterdam, as well as an Executive Master degree from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
The board of directors has appointed Massimo Selmo as chief procurement officer and as member of the executive committee. Mr Selmo, currently head of global sourcing, will be the group’s first chief procurement officer in the executive committee.
Mr Selmo has been with Barry Callebaut for 25 years, of which close to 23 years as head of global sourcing. In this role, Mr Selmo contributed to the group’s strategic growth pillar of cost leadership. In support of Forever Chocolate, Barry Callebaut’s plan to make sustainable chocolate the norm by 2025, he championed sustainable sourcing, resulting in 61% of the group’s non-cocoa ingredients being sustainably sourced in fiscal year 2019/20. Massimo Selmo joined Barry Callebaut in 1996, having previously worked at KPMG as senior auditor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.
Peter Boone, chief executive of the Barry Callebaut Group, said: “I want to thank Isabelle for her invaluable contributions to Barry Callebaut’s growth over the past years. She transformed the HR function into a business partnering powerhouse, successfully building our talent development program and introducing our #OneBC commitment to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace, all of which will continue to serve the group in the years to come.
“I warmly welcome Masha and Massimo to the executive committee of Barry Callebaut. Their longstanding and highly successful track record at Barry Callebaut, in combination with their diverse experience, will ensure a smooth transition, as well as continuity in the implementation of our growth strategy combined with fresh insights into its execution.”
