Birds Eye Cod Fish Fingers - 10

Nomad owns the likes of Birds Eye, Igloo and Findus, as well as Aunt Bessie’s and Goodfella’s

Frozen food giant Nomad Foods has appointed Ruben Baldew as chief financial officer to succeed Samy Zekhout, who is leaving his position to explore new opportunities.

Baldew starts in the role on 17 June, with Zekhout remaining with the group until the end of July to assist with the transition.

Baldew joins the Birds Eye and Aunt Bessie’s owner with more than 20 years of global consumer products experience, most recently as CFO of Dutch bicycle business Accell Group.

During his five years at Accell, he led multiple value creation initiatives prior to the successful sale of the business.

Prior to Accell, Baldew spent more than 15 years at Unilever in various finance roles, with international experience in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Thailand.

Nomad CEO Stefan Descheemaeker said: “Ruben is a dynamic leader with extensive experience in both financial leadership as well as other senior executive positions, which will bolster our strong foundations and strategic plans.

“On behalf of everyone at Nomad Foods, I would like to thank Samy for his significant contributions to the company and wish him success in his future endeavours. I am particularly grateful for his leadership and support over the six years that we have worked together.

“Samy leaves a strong finance organisation that has been instrumental to our success, as evidenced by our consistent organic revenue, EBITDA and earnings per share growth, during his time with us. He has been a critical player to drive our strategic agenda, leading key initiatives such as revenue growth management and business transformation, which will benefit us for many years to come.”

Co-chairman and founder Noam Gottesman added: “We are pleased that Ruben is joining the team. He is an accomplished CFO with a strong track record of developing and leading key strategic initiatives. We look forward to working together and welcome his contributions to our business.

“Samy made a huge impact over his tenure, driving strong shareholder value as Nomad became the undisputed frozen food leader in Europe. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Samy for his leadership and celebrate his accomplishments, which helped to deliver great business results, build a strong organisation and position us for future success.”