Samworth Brothers Futures division MD Michelle Sanders is leaving the company for a chief growth officer role at Compass Group, The Grocer can reveal.
Sanders will leave the Leicestershire-headquartered food manufacturing giant, behind the likes of Ginsters and Higgidy, at the end of March after nearly 12 years.
She is set to join foodservice giant Compass’s UK & Ireland division soon afterwards.
“I’d very much like to thank Samworth Brothers for 12 great and successful years where I’m incredibly proud of everything that we have achieved in that time”, Sanders told The Grocer.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining Compass Group as their chief growth officer for UK&I. Their size and ambition aligns perfectly with my career aspirations.”
She initially joined Samworth Brothers as sales director in 2013 and moved her way up through other business and commercial roles, including category commercial director for the food to go division – the company’s largest sector.
Prior to that, she also worked at Noble Foods and The Jordans & Ryvita Company, now known as Jordans Dorset Ryvita.
Most recently, she set up Samworth Brothers’ Futures division in 2021, which focuses on exploring upcoming trends and fostering connections in non-traditional retail domains.
It is also the department responsible for ESG matters, carrying out “valuable research” in the climate risks and regulations area, the manufacturer has previously said. The team had already “identified a number of nature-related topics we need to consider in the long term, such as water risk and the impacts of animal-based protein”.
Samworth Brothers Futures “combines consumer insight, proposition development, strategic business development and group strategy”, according to the company, with the remit to “identify headwinds and business opportunities to ensure we have a strategy and solutions for future success”.
As part of that role, Sanders worked directly with the Samworth Brothers board.
She has also been a non-executive director on the board of dips brand Holy Moly for four years.
Read more: Samworth Brothers puts Soreen up for sale
“We are grateful to Michelle for her fantastic contribution and leadership during her time at Samworth Brothers and wish her every happiness and success in her new role,” a spokesperson for the ready meals supplier said.
The Futures division would remain under the leadership of chief commercial officer Sam Mitchell, the company confirmed. The company also has a Responsible Business team, led by former Greencore and Sainsbury’s head of sustainability Andy Wright.
Mitchell said: “We remain committed to identifying and developing new opportunities for the long term.
“Our groups insights director Katherine Hardwick and her team will continue to bring leading insight to the business and provide the context for our category teams to lead their innovation strategies.”
Mitchell himself has recently been appointed CCO after a leadership shake-up that saw former CCO Simon Wookey promoted to CEO when ex-CEO Hugo Mahoney left the business in July last year.
Read more: Samworth Brothers records £22.5m hit from Revolution Kitchen closure
Downloads
1678269335206
Other, Size 0.11 mb
No comments yet