Ricola Group AG with new corporate governance model
Ricola, the traditional Swiss company, is reorganizing: Strategic and operational management are separated, the Richterich family of owners retires to the Board of Directors and hands over operational management to individuals from outside the family.
Ricola's sustained profitable growth, increased internationalization and advancing digitalization are constantly posing new challenges for the group of companies, according to a media release. "As a family of entrepreneurs, we are therefore constantly looking at the optimal solution for managing Ricola. Based on these considerations, we have decided that at this point in time, a complete separation of the strategic and operational levels is most beneficial for our company," said Felix Richterich, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ricola Group AG and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ricola Familienholding AG.
Ricola Group AG now managed outside the family
The development of this management model at Ricola took place carefully and step by step. Following the successful start of CEO Thomas P. Meier in May 2019 and a period of transition in which the course was set and the culture was launched together, the entrepreneurial family will be involved in the boards of directors of Ricola Group AG and the parent company Ricola Familienholding AG from January 1, 2021. Eva Richterich, previously Head of Innovation & Sustainability, will leave Group Management at the end of 2020 to focus on her strategic role as a member of the Board of Directors of Ricola Familienholding AG. As of this date, Chris Fesen will take over the Innovation & Sustainability business unit. As a result, the operational management of Ricola Group AG, under the leadership of CEO Thomas P. Meier, will be entirely in the hands of non-family leaders.
Eva Richterich takes on new strategic role
Eva Richterich was Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ricola Group from 2015-2019. In 2016, she initiated the future lab Ricolab and set important impulses in innovation, the responsible use of natural resources and digitalization. At the beginning of 2019, she was appointed to the Executive Board of Ricola and has since led the Innovation & Sustainability business unit. Together with her team, she developed a new innovation strategy and the associated process. She also created the conditions for modern sustainability management and ensured the necessary cultural change in her business unit. Likewise, she integrated Ricolab into the parent company at the beginning of 2020. Following the successful completion of this work, Eva Richterich will step down from the operational management of Ricola at the end of 2020 and focus on her strategic role as a member of the Board of Directors of Ricola Familienholding AG.
Source and further information: Ricola
