Hein Schumacher appointed new CEO of Barry Callebaut
Barry Callebaut announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Hein Schumacher as new CEO, succeeding Peter Feld.
With the upcoming completion of the BC Next Level transformation program, Feld will leave Barry Callebaut to pursue other career opportunities. He will remain available to Barry Callebaut during the transition to Schumacher, with a focus on transferring his knowledge of the BC Next Level transformation program.
“The Board is delighted to welcome Hein Schumacher as Barry Callebaut’s next CEO after an extensive global search process and to embark on a new chapter of growth, value creation and industry leadership,” said Patrick De Maeseneire, chairman of Barry Callebaut Group. “Hein is a seasoned and decisive leader with a unique blend of expertise in food, B2C/B2B and ingredients, as well as a proven track record in creating significant shareholder value from two CEO positions with Unilever and Royal FrieslandCampina. He is the right leader at this stage to chart Barry Callebaut’s next phase of increased customer focus, winning culture and financial strength, based on our fully integrated cocoa and chocolate business model.”
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Maeseneire thanked Feld, joined Barry Callebaut as CEO in April 2023, for his work in transforming the company “into a simpler, leaner and more agile organization. Next to championing our transformation program, BC Next Level, Peter has navigated our company through the perfect storm, with unprecedented cocoa bean prices, market turbulence and a challenging geopolitical situation.”
Schumacher brings to Barry Callebaut over 25 years of experience in the food sector.
From 2023-2025, he served as CEO of Unilever, where he implemented a comprehensive growth plan that allowed the company to sharpen its focus on core brands with higher added value and achieve significant shareholder value growth.
Prior to Unilever, Schumacher held key leadership positions at Royal FrieslandCampina, one of the world’s largest dairy cooperatives with 50% of their revenues in B2B, where he served as both CEO and CFO. In his role as CEO, he led Royal FrieslandCampina during times of very volatile commodity prices as well as through COVID and strengthened the company through a major restructuring initiative which resulted in a more focused business and a significant revenue increase.
Schumacher said he is honoured to serve as CEO of Barry Callebaut, adding that following a period of unprecedented market turbulence, “Barry Callebaut is at an exciting juncture. While the business continues to navigate market and volume pressures, we have a clear opportunity to return to growth, to strengthen our culture and to deliver a step-up in our business performance. I look forward to working with the Barry Callebaut team to delight our customers, strengthen the balance sheet and deliver sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders.”
