MALMÖ, Sweden — Oatly Group AB, the world’s largest oat drink company, has expanded its executive leadership team with the addition of two senior consumer packaged goods industry veterans. Jean-Christophe Flatin has been named as Oatly’s Global President and Daniel Ordonez has been named Chief Operating Officer. Peter Bergh, Oatly’s current Chief Operating Officer, has been named Chief Strategy Officer. All of these changes are effective June 1, 2022.
Building on the momentum of a transformational 2021 that included the opening of three new manufacturing facilities, multiple launches of new products and sales in new geographies, the initial public offering, and annual revenue growth of 53%, Oatly is strengthening its organization to execute on its next phase of global growth.
The expanded executive leadership team will further enable Oatly to lead the plant-based movement by building on its market leadership positions, growing its international footprint, sharpening its supply chain and manufacturing practices, and continuing to leverage its proprietary production processes to launch innovative products.
Mr. Flatin joins Oatly with over 30 years of experience at Mars, which included managing high-growth brands and leading global organizations. At Mars, Mr. Flatin led the multi-billion dollar growth of the Royal Canin cat and dog food business as Global CEO and President, and managed multiple global brands as President of the Global Chocolate division.
Most recently, he served as President of Innovation, Science, Technology, and Mars Edge, a new entrepreneurial segment of Mars. As Oatly’s Global President, Mr. Flatin will be responsible for enhancing Oatly’s operating model and increasing the global connectivity of the Company’s innovation, food science, supply chain, business technology, and sustainability functions. Mr. Flatin will report directly to Toni Petersson, Oatly’s Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Ordonez joins Oatly with almost 30 years of experience in consumer packaged goods, primarily at Danone and Unilever. Most recently, at Danone, Mr. Ordonez served as the Chief Growth Officer of the Dairy and Plant-Based division and then as President of Danone Iberia. As Oatly’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Ordonez will lead and support business operations and development in new and existing markets, and he will also report directly to Mr. Petersson.
In his new role of Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Bergh will be responsible for leading global strategic and business development initiatives that will further the Company’s mission to convert traditional dairy users to Oatly consumers. Mr. Bergh will continue to report directly to Mr. Petersson.
Toni Petersson, Oatly’s CEO, commented, “On behalf of our board and management team, I am pleased to welcome Jean-Christophe and Daniel, two accomplished industry leaders, to Oatly as we position ourselves for the next phase of global growth. Their proven track records of driving growth and profitability at multinational consumer packaged goods companies will be valuable to Oatly as we continue to scale production to meet the growing demand for our products. I am also excited to continue working with Peter in his new role, where he will focus on our global strategic projects to help further strengthen Oatly’s long-term growth, building on his outstanding contributions as the Company’s former COO and CFO.”
About Jean-Christophe Flatin
Jean-Christophe Flatin has over 30 years of experience and has a demonstrated track record of executing operational initiatives, integrations, and transformations at Mars. He held various executive leadership, operational and financial roles at Mars, including three years as Global President of Mars Global Chocolate and 12 years at Royal Canin, which Mr. Flatin transformed into the largest global brand in the Mars portfolio. Most recently, Mr. Flatin served as President of Innovation, Science, Technology and Mars Edge, an entrepreneurial segment of Mars.
About Daniel Ordonez
Daniel Ordonez has almost 30 years of experience in consumer packaged goods with a proven track record of success growing billion-dollar brands across multiple product categories. Mr. Ordonez spent the majority of his career at Danone and Unilever where he held executive management, marketing and sales roles. Most recently, Mr. Ordonez served as President Danone Iberia and was previously Chief Growth Officer of Dairy and Plant-Based for Danone for four years, where he accelerated the rollout of plant-based offerings such as Alpro and Silk into new geographies. At Unilever, Mr. Ordonez held senior leadership positions in its Personal Care and Home Care divisions.
