Natasha Chen has been appointed president North America of the Barry Callebaut Group, effective September 16. She succeeds Ben De Schryver, who has decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities. 

In her new role, Chen will oversee Barry Callebaut’s North America business across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. She will be reporting directly to CEO Peter Feld and will also join the company’s extended leadership team. 

An American national, Chen has a strong history of driving growth and providing excellent service  to her customers. She brings extensive U.S. and international leadership experience in both B2B and B2C environments. 

Most recently, she led the global healthcare division at Ecolab, the global B2B sustainability company specializing in water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions. Prior to that, she spent over two decades at consumer goods company Colgate-Palmolive, where she occupied various business management and marketing roles across three regions and different geographies. Chen holds an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. 

"We are delighted to welcome Natasha to Barry Callebaut. She is a skilled international leader with a deep understanding of the North American market, digitalization, and sustainability, which will be instrumental for us to create a more impactful service for our North American customers. With her extensive experience in taking customer focus to the next level and transforming businesses, Natasha will be invaluable as we strive to create the best chocolate solutions and services for our customers. We would also like to thank Ben for his extraordinary dedication and commitment over the past 25 years, including his three years of service as our Group CFO. His contributions have significantly shaped our company’s history. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors." 

Related: Barry Callebaut debuts Future Farming Initiative