Mars Board Chair, Frank Mars, paid tribute to Reid’s “extraordinary legacy” – highlighting his countless achievements – fusing performance with purpose, delivering sustainable growth, ramping up Mars digital capabilities, building its iconic brands, and expanding into newer territories like veterinary health, pet services and healthy snacking. As a result, Mars said, sales had grown by over 50% to nearly $45B under Reid’s tenure and the number of Associates had increased from 60,000 to more than 140,000.  

Reid says, “It has been a privilege to lead the Mars team and work closely with the Mars Family. We have built on our core strengths and moved into new areas, setting the business up for a brilliant, sustainable future. But the biggest difference we make starts with our 140,000 Associates, the hundreds of communities we operate in, and the billions of consumers we serve. I’m proud that, in the face of challenges such as a global pandemic, we have never lost sight of our strategic path or our ambition to help create the world we want tomorrow – and to drive both purpose and performance. Whether that be challenging ourselves to deliver a truly net zero supply chain, ensuring our most impactful raw materials like palm are deforestation-free, or innovating with packaging solutions to help ensure our products do not turn up as waste. 

Having worked closely with Poul for many years I consider him and his family to be close friends. I am very excited about the future of the business under his leadership and congratulate him on his appointment as CEO of this incredible company.”                            

Weihrauch has worked in many parts of the business since joining in 2000 as European brand leader for Snickers. Having led the Mars Food business, he became President of Global Petcare in 2014 and, during that time, has overseen significant growth and diversification into veterinary health, diagnostics, data, and platforms, doubling the size of the business. Weihrauch has also driven significant focus and investment into the Petcare sustainability agenda. 

From next year onwards, Reid will devote more time to following his passion as a champion for climate action, the sustainability agenda, and the broader role for business in society.