London 1 August 2024: pladis, the leading global snacking company behind iconic brands including McVitie’s, GODIVA, Jacob’s, Carr’s and Ülker, today announced leadership changes and accompanying realignment of regions in support of its growth strategy. pladis currently operates with a Türkiye, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (TREECA) region – its largest business – and a Western Europe and Emerging Markets (WEEM) region.

Beginning 1 January, 2025, these regions will be realigned as Türkiye and Central Asian Markets. Our Eastern and Western Europe operations will merge into one Europe and Emerging Markets Region. Accountability for our Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa businesses as well as Australia and New Zealand will continue to reside in this region.

This change better aligns the geographic and economic synergies of pladis’ European markets that operate within the EU trading bloc, bringing further scale and momentum to the region’s operations. As part of this change, Mete Buyurgan, who has led pladis’ TREECA Market Region and driven its significant growth since 2016, will be moving to a new leadership role beginning in Q2 2025. He will report directly to CEO Salman Amin.

Özgür Kölükfakı will join pladis on 9 September 2024 as Managing Director – Designate Türkiye and Central Asia and incoming CEO of Ülker. Kölükfakı joins from Hayat Kimya – a global hygiene, tissue and homecare company and one of the largest consumer companies in Türkiye – where he was General Manager, leading its Türkiye business and export operations. Prior to Hayat Kimya, Kölükfakı spent 23 years in senior roles at Unilever, most recently as Vice President, Foods and Refreshment. Kölükfakı will assume leadership of the region in Q2 2025 and will work closely with Buyurgan in the interim to ensure a smooth transition and business continuity. Kölükfakı will also serve on pladis’ Executive Committee and Ülker’s Board of Directors.

Tim Brett, currently pladis’ Managing Director, Western Europe and Emerging Markets (WEEM), will expand his purview as Managing Director, Europe and Emerging Markets.

pladis CEO Salman Amin said: “I want to extend my deep gratitude to Mete for his eight successful years leading our TREECA region. I look forward to continuing to work with Mete as he brings his exceptional talents to new opportunities to drive growth in pladis. And I’m delighted that Özgür will be joining us to lead Türkiye and Central Asia. His deep, multinational leadership experience in large consumer goods businesses will be a significant boon to pladis. Finally, I’d like to thank Tim for his continued leadership and know his experience will be hugely beneficial in his expanded role overseeing all of Europe and Emerging Markets.”