Unilever has appointed Jochanan Senf as global CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, escalating its dispute with the brand’s independent board.
Effective mid-July, ice cream veteran Senf will rejoin the business from his current role as Unilever Foods GM for the DACH region.
Between 2009 and 2017, Senf was Ben & Jerry’s Europe MD.
Senf tripled the size of the business during his tenure, significantly enhancing its market presence across Europe.
The experience allowed him to “learn first-hand the importance and power of Ben & Jerry’s unique three-part mission: product, economic and social”, said the Magnum Ice Cream Company.
Senf’s ice cream expertise was bolstered further during his subsequent role as Unilever VP for refreshment in Indonesia, in which he spent three years and delivered “significant revenue growth”.
However, Ben & Jerry’s insiders told The Wall Street Journal Senf had been appointed CEO without proper consultation with its independent board of directors.
Unilever has denied these allegations.
“Our approach throughout all of this has been and continues to be focused on collaboration in line with the merger agreement between Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s,” said a Unilever spokesperson.
Former Ben & Jerry’s CEO David Stever exited the business in March amid an ongoing lawsuit between the ice cream brand’s board of directors and owner Unilever.
Ben & Jerry’s board of directors claimed Stever had been ousted by Unilever for refusing to block the ice cream brand’s public support of Palestinian refugees.
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