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MARK Escolme, managing director of the Findus group, which owns Grimsby Based Young's Seafood and The Seafood Company, has surprised the seafood business by resigning after just a year in the job.
An brief announcement from the company last night said Mr Escolme, aged 44, had decided, for personal reasons, "to spend more time with his young family."
Yet just up to a couple of weeks ago he was in upbeat mood, welcoming new names to his management team. Findus chief executive Chris Britton added: "I would like to take this opportunity to recognise and thank Mark for his contribution to the business.”
Mr Escolme joined Findus in August last year from the household goods company SC Johnson. It was his first move into the complex world of fish and seafood.
He is being replaced as managing director of the Findus UK frozen food business with immediate effect by the company's Chief Marketing Officer, Leendert den Hollander.
He will lead Findus Group in the UK and Ireland, the largest business in the Group portfolio, with the iconic Young’s and Findus brands which employ around 1,200 people in Grimsby. The Seafood Company employees several hundred more in Grimsby and Scotland.
Mr Leendert joined Findus in December 2009 and has laid out the Group’s marketing, sales and innovation strategy, and been instrumental in establishing a consumer centric culture, creating category teams able to drive bigger and better innovations across all markets.
He has a wealth of country, regional and global commercial experience, having previously been with Procter & Gamble for 15 years where he was most recently Global Director of Household Cleaners portfolio.
Chris Britton, said: “I know Leendert is excited to take on this challenging new operational role and deliver customers and consumers a more inspiring frozen experience, establishing our vision of ‘Fresh Food, Frozen’ and bring our UK vision and strategy to life.”
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