Westfalia Fruit International has announced that Hans Eben has been appointed as CEO of its Chilean subsidiary Agricom. He succeeds Rodrigo Barros, the founder of Agricom, who has retired after four decades at the helm of the company.
Born in Chile, Eben has worked his entire career at Unilever, heading up companies with manufacturing plants and operations under his scope. His most recent role was as country manager for Unilever in Chile.
Prior to that, he served as Unilever country manager in Peru as well as marketing director for Unilever in Latin America. Early in his career he was based in the UK where he was vice president of the Unilever Marketing Academy.
In his new role, Eben will be managing all aspects of the Agricom business in Chile, providing strategic, financial, operational and stakeholder support to ensure the sustainability, profitability and further advancement of the business.
“I’m excited to be contributing towards the wellbeing of millions of people around the world with the sustainably grown, nutritious and colourful products of the Westfalia family,” he said from Agricom’s Santiago headquarters.
Alk Brand, CEO of Westfalia Fruit, commented on the appointment: “We are pleased that Hans agreed to join us at an exciting time for the Group and for our Chilean operation.
“Chile is a strategic region for Westfalia and we look forward to continuing to promote Chilean fruit and our growers through our global platforms. The skills that Hans brings are ideal for the execution of this vision.”
Throughout his career, Eben has shown a commitment to making a difference in society and the industry in which he operates, holding roles including president of Global Pact United Nations; president of the Advisory Board B Corp Chile; consultant to the Minister of Women on gender-based violence and the Minister of Science for technology-based companies and director of the National Association Consumer Goods Companies Peru.
