Source: General Mills

Fisher worked for Unilever for 20 years

General Mills has hired Unilever veteran Simon Fisher as its new sales director for Northern Europe.

Fisher worked for General Mills’ rival Unilever for 20 years, most recently as its digital transformation director.

Taking up the role in May, he will replace Karen Jenkins, who is returning to her native Australia to become sales director of General Mills’ arm there.

Fisher had “consistently delivered exceptional results and has built deep and lasting relationships across UK retail”, said General Mills Northern Europe MD Ben Pearman.

“His expertise will be invaluable as we continue to grow our business in the UK.”

Fisher added he was “absolutely delighted” to be joining the supplier. 

“The business has outstanding brands and exceptional people and I’m excited to work with both the team and with customers to drive our combined growth agendas.”

It comes on the back of a stellar year for the US-headquartered fmcg giant, which last month posted an 8% jump in net sales to $4.5bn over the quarter to 27 February 2021, with organic growth of 7%, on operating profits up 27% to $827m.