Mars focuses on health & wellbeing
Mars has named Debra A. Sandler as its chief health and wellbeing officer and elevated Tracey Massey to the role Sandler previously held as the acting president of Mars Chocolate, North America.
The creation of the chief health and wellbeing officer role is a reflection of the strategic priority that the company is placing on issues such as global food security, safety and quality, as well as on improving the nutritional value of its portfolio.
“When we reorganized into our business Segments in 2008, we concentrated our health and wellness efforts within those Segments to address the diversity of our product portfolios in chocolate, petcare, food, Wrigley, drinks and Mars symbioscience,” said Grant F. Reid, co-president of Mars. “Great work has gone on across our businesses under this strategy. This newly created role will help accelerate that progress by creating a comprehensive cross-segment strategy that will drive change across our businesses. Debra will lead our health and wellbeing platform through collaboration with our segments and by leveraging our significant lessons learned in this space to date, including depth of consumer insights, data and nutritional research within our segments. Debra has been a change agent in the area of health and wellness, shepherding innovative product options like the lower calorie per pack M&M’s Pretzel variety, demonstrating industry leadership as a member of the board of the healthy weight commitment and by calling for industry change in her 2013 State of the Industry Speech at the National Confectioner’s Association.”
Sandler joined Mars in 2009 as chief consumer officer for Mars Chocolate North America and was promoted to president of Mars Chocolate North America in 2012. She has a degree in international trade from Hofstra University and earned her MBA from New York University. Prior to joining Mars, she served as worldwide president of McNeil’s Nutritionals with Johnson & Johnson. Sandler will report to David Kamenetzky, VP corporate affairs and strategic initiatives, and will work closely with the Mars leadership team and the board of directors.
“Tracey has done a superb job of leading Strategy & Finance for the global Chocolate business for more than five years,” added Reid. “During her time as chocolate CFO, Tracey has demonstrated particular excellence in shaping the vision and strategy, and has led our chocolate growth in emerging markets across the world. Tracey has demonstrated a passion for developing associates and is widely recognized as a unifying leader of the CFOs across the chocolate business. I have complete confidence that she will transition into this new role brilliantly.”