Breyers appoints new CEO
James Nolan has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of US company Breyers Yogurt. He will succeed Chuck Marcy, who has been CEO since 2005. In a statement, Marcy expressed pride in the “significant progress the company has made” and confidence in its future success under Nolan’s leadership.
Nolan is joining Breyers Yogurt from Sara Lee, where he has served since 2007 as EVP of Sara Lee Corp and CEO of its $2-billion Sara Lee Fresh Bakery division. His three decades of food industry experience also include executive positions at PepsiAmericas, including EVP, US operations, and chief sales and market development positions at PepsiCo.
The Breyers yogurt brand was owned by Kraft Foods until it sold the Breyers cultured-products unit in 2005 to Canada’s CoolBrands Dairy. Breyers is the largest independent branded yogurt company in the US, with traditional strength in fruit-on-the-bottom and light varieties. With sales of approximately $200 million (EUR162.4m) last year, it holds third place in the US market to Groupe Danone’s Dannon and General Mills’ Yoplait. Dannon and Yoplait together account for about 70% of total US yogurt sales.
