| Dirk van de Put | |
| Birth Date: | 14 May 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Mechelen, Antwerp Province, Belgium |
| Citizenship: | Belgium United States |
| Education: | veterinary medicine |
| Alma Mater: | Ghent University University of Antwerp |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
| Chairman and CEO, Mondelez International | |
| Term: | November 2017– |
| Predecessor: | Irene Rosenfeld |
Dirk van de Put (born 14 May 1960)[1] is a Belgian businessman, and the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mondelez International. CEO since November 2017,[2] [3] he also became chairman in April 2018.[4]
Van de Put is a native of Mechelen, Antwerp Province, Belgium, and has a veterinary medicine degree from Ghent University, and a master's degree in business from the University of Antwerp.[5] He is fluent in Dutch, English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Van de Put worked for Coca-Cola, Mars Inc, Novartis and Groupe Danone, before becoming CEO of the Canadian frozen foods manufacturer McCain Foods in 2010.[2] [3] He is a non-executive director of Mattel.[4]
In November 2017, he succeeded Irene Rosenfeld as CEO of Mondelez International.[2] [3] He also became chairman in April 2018.[4] He was hired by Mondelez with a reputation for driving growth in traditional packaged food brands. While Mondelez grew 1.5% in 2016 and 0.9% in 2017, Van de Put is promising organic revenue growth of 3% per year and is working to achieve this by increasing advertising spend and giving more responsibility to local marketing managers. In the third quarter of 2019, growth reached 4.2%, and operating profit for 2019 was increased by 20%.[6]
Van de Put has Belgian and US citizenship.[4] He is married and has two sons.
In November 2023, International Rights Advocates filed a class-complaint against Mondelez International and Van de Put, alleging that as CEO:[7]
As CEO of Mondelez International, Van de Put has defended the continued operation of the company in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian War. In an interview with the Financial Times, Van de Put stated that were Mondelez to leave Russia, the assets of the company would be left to "friends of Putin," which would generate more cash to fund Russia's war efforts than the amount of taxes the company currently pays to Russia.[8] Van de Put further asserted that "[t]here has been no shareholder pressure whatsoever" for Mondelez to end operations in Russia, and that shareholders do not "morally care" whether the company remains in Russia.