Grant F. Reid, the current Chief Executive Officer of Mars, has made the announcement that he would step down from his position as CEO after guiding the company through a time of exceptional development, impact, and reinvention.
18 months ago, Reid told the Board of his plans to retire from Mars. Since then, he has been directly engaged in helping to guarantee a succession plan that is of the highest calibre possible. Reid will continue to work for Mars until the end of the year. Since 2014, he has been in charge of this position. The current Global President of Mars Petcare, Poul Weihrauch, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer beginning at the end of September.
Mars Board Chair Frank Mars paid tribute to Reid’s “extraordinary legacy” by highlighting some of his numerous accomplishments. These included fusing performance with purpose, delivering sustainable growth, ramping up Mars digital capabilities, building its iconic brands, and expanding into newer territories such as veterinary health, pet services, and healthy snacking. Mars said that as a direct consequence of Reid’s leadership, sales had surged by more than fifty percent to almost forty-five billion dollars, and the number of Associates had expanded from sixty thousand to more than one hundred forty thousand.
Frank Mars continued by saying, “While he is much too humble to realise it, our substantial change and record development as a corporation would not have occurred without Grant’s guidance.” He has clearly shown our values, and he has ingrained our mission into the very fabric of our operational plan. The Mars Family feels an enormous debt of gratitude toward him for all of his hard work and commitment.
“He has been a pillar of strength for us, assisting us in charting new pathways and challenging us to go beyond what we believed was possible. He has represented Mars on the international stage, most notably in the realm of climate change, and he has ensured that we are renowned for really doing rather than merely making pledges. We shall miss him very much for his moral leadership, his very collaborative and engaging manner, and, last but not least, his dry sense of Scottish humour.