McCormick is a $5.3bn turnover global flavour leader operating across 150 countries and territories. The business is split in two segments, ‘Consumer Portfolio’ and ‘Flavour Solutions Portfolio’ with three key geographies, ‘America’ ‘EMEA’ and ‘APZ’. Drayton embarked on a challenging mandate in their EMEA business; one that holds leadership positions in many of their markets, with 12 highly successful and iconic brands such as Ducros and Vahiné in France, Schwartz in the UK, Kamis in Poland, or McCormick in Switzerland.
The Brief
McCormick approached Drayton to support with the appointment of a VP Quality & Regulatory Affairs for the EMEA region. This individual sits on the EMEA Exec and is responsible for a team of approximately 140 quality professionals in 6 locations (UK, France, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Turkey). Achieving the very highest quality standards is absolutely critical to the region’s success. This individual needed to combine being an evangelist for Quality with a truly entrepreneurial approach and style. Their energy and drive will fuel the further development of what is already a market-leading function.
Drayton Approach
Our approach was to seek recommendations and referrals from our extensive network and proactively target those individuals who were in appropriate branded food businesses. This involved networking globally, but particularly deeply across Europe and Americas. The interest in the role was strong but finding an individual with the correct blend of technical expertise and rounded leadership was very challenging.
Outcome
Drayton secured an individual with incredibly broad experience across well-respected businesses such as Danone, Mars, Cargill and Kraft. In addition, this person had operated both regionally and globally in a range of nuanced categories, from food proper, to ingredients, and also nutrition.