The Hain Celestial Group has expanded its Board by adding two heavy hitters from the food and beverage industry in the form of former PepsiCo and Chiquita executives.
The Lake Success-based maker or organic and healthy snacks and foods said it named Richard Beck and Michael Sims to its Board, which expanded to nine members.
Beck will also serve as a member of the Audit and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committees and Sims will serve as a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees.
“We look forward to their contributions and believe their particularly strong operational and financial backgrounds will provide valuable perspectives for our Board,” Board Chair Dean Hollis said in a written statement.
Hain for fiscal 2019 reported a $49.9 million net loss compared to $82.4 million net income the prior year as net sales decreased 6 percent to $2.3 billion from the prior year.
CEO Mark Schiller at the time said the company had “started to make significant progress on our key strategies in the United States including simplifying the portfolio, strengthening our core capabilities and expanding margins and cash flow..”
The new Board members bring additional expertise to the company, which has been seeking to divest of some brands as it says it will focus on profits as much as or even more than revenue.
As the founder of Biltmoore Consulting in 2016, he advises clients on operations, supply chain optimization, logistics and general management. Previously, Beck was senior vice president, global operations for PepsiCo from 2011 to 2016.
Hain Celestial said at PepsiCo Beck “established the company’s global operations function and led various successful initiatives that improved productivity, drove automation, technology and global systems and improved environmental, health and safety metrics.”
Hain Celestial is a global company whose net sales in the United States for fiscal 2019 were $1 billion, slightly less than half of the company’s total sales.
Hain Celestial United Kingdom’s net sales were$886 million and sales in the rest of the world wer3 $408 million.
Beck held other positions at PepsiCo from 1993 to 2011, including president and senior vice president of Gatorade, senior vice president of PepsiCo Chicago and senior vice president of operations for Frito-Lay. From 1981 to 1992, Beck held various executive positions at General Electric.
Sims has more than 30 years of consumer packaged goods industry experience and currently serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Trugreen, a residential and commercial lawn care company.
He earlier served as senior vice president, CFO and treasurer of AdvancePierre Foods Holdings, which in 2017 was acquired by Tyson Foods.
From 1988 to 2012, Sims held various executive positions at Chiquita Brands International as senior vice president and chief risk officer from 2009 to 2012. Prior to that, he held various positions with Arthur Young & Co. now known as Ernst & Young.
