Canadian organic food group SunOpta has named Diamond Foods executive David Colo as its new president and CEO.
The appointment, which comes into effect today (6 February) will see Colo take over from interim CEO Katrina Houde, who will continue to serve on SunOpta’s board of directors.
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Colo joins SunOpta from US snack maker Diamond, where he has served as executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2013.
SunOpta, which has embarked on a turnaround drive, stressed Colo was “responsible for leading the turnaround of the highly distressed” Diamond and subsequent US$1.9bn sale of the business to another US snacks group, Snyder’s-Lance, in March last year.
Last October, SunOpta launched a “thorough review” of the company’s operations, management and governance, with the objective of maximising long-term value to its shareholders. It also secured an $85m investment from Oaktree Capital.
SunOpta chairman Dean Hollis stressed Colo was previously “intimately involved” with Oaktree during his time at Diamond. “We expect an extremely efficient integration into his role of leading the company and its value creation plan,” Hollis said.
