Former Ben & Jerry's Exec Named Stonyfield CEO
Stonyfield announces that mission-driven business leader Walt Freese will join the company as President and Chief Executive Officer (CE-Yo). Co-Founder Gary Hirshberg will continue as Stonyfield Chairman and shareholder, while advocating for change in national food and agriculture policies, including the labeling of genetically engineered foods. Hirshberg hand-selected a like-minded successor in Freese, former CEO of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., who will take the reins of the organic yogurt company later this month.
As Stonyfield Chairman, Hirshberg will remain involved with the company he co-founded nearly 30 years ago and he will maintain oversight of Stonyfield's European sister companies, its new Stonyfield Cafs and the company's Profits-for-the-Planet program, while serving on several boards at French parent company Danone. The move will allow Hirshberg to devote more attention to a variety of local and national political efforts including seeking labeling of genetically engineered foods with the Just Label It campaign and his work on US food and agriculture policy as a Co-Chair of AGree, a Washington, DC-based public policy initiative.
Freese will assume his full duties as CE-Yo at Stonyfield later this month. He will be overseeing America's top selling organic yogurt company, with brands and product lines including Stonyfield's core organic yogurts, rapidly growing Organic Oikos Greek Yogurt, and popular product lines including YoBaby, YoToddler and YoKids.
As CEO of Ben & Jerry's, Freese led the company on a fantastic growth track, while championing environmental issues and acting to promote social justice worldwide. During his 10 years with the company, sales more than doubled and operating profit margins more than tripled. At the same time the company tackled critical issues in areas as diverse as global climate change, environmental sustainability, supporting family farms and challenging federal budget priorities to increase support for basic human needs. Prior to joining Ben & Jerry's, Freese was President of Celestial Seasonings, a values-led natural foods business in Boulder, Colorado.