NETHERLANDS – Dutch multinational food ingredients company DSM has announced that Chris Goppelsroeder, president and CEO DSM Nutritional Products (DNP), will retire and leave the company, effective 1 April 2021.
DSM co-CEO and chief operating officer , Dimitri de Vreeze, will step into Goppelsroeder’s DNP leadership role, according to a statement from the company.
Goppelsroeder – who is also currently a member of the DSM executive committee – first joined the company in 2003 when DSM acquired Roche Holding’s vitamins division.
As president and CEO DNP since 2013, Goppelsroeder is said to have been ‘instrumental’ in the growth of DSM’s largest business, organically as well as through acquisitions.
This includes DSM’s purchase of Danish HMO supplier Glycom in a €765 million deal (about US$927 million) that was announced early last year.
In addition, Goppelsroeder has reportedly played a ‘crucial role’ in DSM’s recent moves in the precision and personalised nutrition space, and in the development of big innovation projects.
DSM co-CEOs, Geraldine Matchett and Dimitri de Vreeze, said: “Chris has been a key and valued leader for DSM and we are very grateful for his dedication and the contributions he has made in transforming DSM to where we are today.”
“We will be sad to say goodbye to a great colleague and friend who has built a fantastic leadership team. Chris leaves a tremendous legacy and, on behalf of the entire company, we wish him all the best for his well-deserved retirement.”
Dimitri – DSM’s CEO and President in waiting – joined DSM in 1990 as a Finance expert working with DSM Fine Chemicals.
He quickly grew through the ranks in the finance department before being transferred to the area of sales management and took on increasingly bigger roles, including that of Global Business Manager Sizing & Binders based in Italy.
He joined the DSM’s Managing Board in 2013 and was appointed as Co-CEO on 15 February 2020.
Earlier, DSM had announced the loss of one of its long serving employee and Chairman of the Managing Board, Mr Hans van Liemt.
Hans is reported to have been instrumental in the first phase of the transformation of DSM, from a traditional mining company into an innovative chemicals company with a clear focus on R&D.
It is this focus that laid the foundation for DSM’s successful transformation into the Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living company it is today.
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