Mast-Jägermeister SE has appointed Berndt Kodden (49) to the Executive Board of the global spirits manufacturer, effective from 1 November 2023. He will succeed Denis Schrey (59), who, after 12 successful years, has chosen to leave the family-owned company rich in tradition on 30 April 2024 at his own request.
Berndt Kodden is already well acquainted with the spirits company based in Lower Saxony. Since March 2022, Kodden has served as a member of the Supervisory Board of the family-owned business, which he is now leaving to join the Executive Board. Alongside CEO Michael Volke and Christopher Ratsch in the Executive Board, he will assume responsibility for overseeing the operational business in approximately 150 countries where the world’s most successful herbal liqueur is distributed.
Florian Rehm, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and spokesperson for the owner family, is looking forward to the new member of the Executive Board. He stated, “In Berndt Kodden, we are gaining a top manager with international experience who knows the company well thanks to his work on the Supervisory Board and is ideally suited to continue driving our global success story.”
Kodden joins from the Dutch food company FrieslandCampina, where he served as a member of the Executive Leadership Team. In his most recent position as Chief Sustainability Officer, he was responsible for the sustainability strategy of the group with its 65 production sites worldwide, around 23,000 employees and activities in around 100 markets. Prior to that, he was President of the Specialised Nutrition business unit, which employs 2,300 people and generates sales of around 1.5 billion euros. During his career spanning over two decades at the company, the Dutchman spent ten years living and working in Asia, including in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
The Chairman of the Supervisory Board and majority shareholder Florian Rehm expressed deep gratitude and appreciation to the outgoing Denis Schrey. He said, “For over a decade, Denis Schrey played a pivotal role in driving the dynamic international expansion of our business and the incredibly successful growth of the company. We thank him very much for his unwavering dedication, valuable strategic and operational contributions, and the trustful collaboration. We wish him the very best for the future.”
Schrey will hand over responsibility for the international business to Kodden from November until he leaves the company. In the future, he intends to concentrate on his tasks in various supervisory and advisory boards. In this context, he will continue to work for the Mast family – apart from Mast- Jägermeister SE.
A replacement for Kodden’s seat on the Supervisory Board of Mast-Jägermeister SE will be appointed shortly.