Dive Brief:
- Yuvraj Arora has been named International Flavors & Fragrance’s new president of the Nourish division. Nourish will become the Food & Beverage division after a company restructuring goes into effect in January 2024.
- Arora, who starts next week, was most recently president of U.S. categories at Kellogg North America. He has been with the CPG giant in various roles involving marketing, brand management, general management and innovation in the U.S. and Asia for 21 years.
- Arora’s appointment helps advance CEO Frank Clyburn’s larger restructuring plan, which he has said will make IFF better able to serve its customers and take advantage of growth opportunities.
Dive Insight:
IFF’s largest division has been without a leader since December when former Nourish head Nicolas Mirzayantz stepped down after 34 years at the company.
Clyburn has been leading the division since then, but IFF had been searching to fill the role. During IFF’s earnings call last month, Clyburn said the company was “looking to attract a well-regarded leader with a strong track record of success that can drive performance.”
Arora has years of experience building and growing Kellogg’s products in many categories and geographies. In his most recent job, he led Kellogg’s $7 billion U.S. portfolio that included brands such as Pringles, RXBar and Special K.
“His expertise in commercializing innovation and track record of delivering strong P&L performance across food and beverage categories make him a great fit to lead Nourish,” Clyburn said in a statement. “Yuvraj’s CPG and consumer insight experience will be of tremendous value as we continue to innovate and create with our customers to enable growth.”
Nourish has seen some difficulties lately. In IFF’s most recent earnings report, sales in the division were down 5% compared to the year-ago period, with steep declines in ingredients. Clyburn said at the time that the division represented 25% of IFF’s total sales, and it drove 60% of the company’s volume decline during the quarter.
While IFF executives said they anticipated these results in the division for the last quarter — largely due to capacity issues and customers having stockpiled ingredients — Clyburn said his company has been improving its relationships with customers. It also has worked to target areas for growth and develop pipelines with customers for future projects.
As Clyburn moves through his second year as CEO, there are plenty of issues requiring his attention. The company is reportedly weighing the sale of its Lucas Meyer Cosmetics unit, which makes non-food ingredients for personal care products. That business could bring IFF $1 billion, Bloomberg reported.
IFF also named new leaders for its non-food business units this week.
