Unilever appoints new Ben & Jerry's CEO as battle over board's lefty politics heats up
Jochanan Senf, a Dutch Unilever executive who previously managed Ben & Jerry's Europe business, will start in the new role this month after the British parent company abruptly axed former CEO David Stever, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In a court filing in March, Ben & Jerry's independent board — which manages the Vermont-based company's social activism and mission — had accused Unilever of firing Stever, who started as a tour guide for the brand's Waterbury factory in 1988.
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4 Jochanan Senf will take over Ben & Jerry's.
LinkedIn / Jochanan Senf
4 Former CEO Dave Stever (left) at the company's Free Cone Day at the Waterbury factory.
Ben & Jerry's
The board — which was created and given power over management as a stipulation in the acquisition agreement when Unilever took over the company in 2000 — was not allowed to interview candidates to replace Stever, a source familiar with the matter told the Journal.
The board also was excluded from the appointment process over the board's political activism – including support for anti-Trump policies and protests against Israel's handling of the war in Gaza, according to the report that cited unnamed sources.
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'Any claims that the Independent Board was excluded from the search process are simply incorrect – they have been offered to participate in good faith and to share their views, but declined to do so,' a spokesperson for the Magnum Ice Cream Company told The Post in a statement.
Ben & Jerry's did not immediately respond to The Post's requests for comment.
The company 'took every step to collaborate in good faith' with the board throughout the appointment process, Peter ter Kulve, who runs Unilever's ice cream unit, wrote in a memo to staff on Thursday, according to the Journal.
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Unilever encouraged members of the board's appointment committee to interview candidates and share feedback, he said.
'The response from the Independent Board was to decline our requests, delay our timing and/or threaten litigation.'
4 Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen, co-founders of Ben & Jerry's, worked with a 'Get out the Vote' campaign for then-vice president Kamala Harris during her presidential campaign.
Getty Images for MoveOn
Unilever's firing of Stever broke its merger agreement with Ben & Jerry's, which 'protects Ben & Jerry's interest by precluding the unilateral removal of its CEO,' according to the complaint filed in March.
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The parent company responded that it has the authority to appoint a new chief executive and that it would only do so after speaking with the board.
Unilever is planning to spin off its ice cream unit this year, renamed the Magnum Ice Cream Company. It will be listed in the Netherlands as a separate company.
4 Unilever is planning to spin off its ice cream unit, including Ben & Jerry's, and rename it the Magnum Ice Cream Company.
REUTERS
Earlier this year, when it announced the spin off, Unilever made clear it has no intention of selling Ben & Jerry's – despite a bid from its liberal founders.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, childhood friends from Long Island, NY, created the company – known for funky flavors like Chunky Monkey and Phish Food – in 1978. It later sold the brand to Unilever for $326 million.
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