Ferrero’s Aldo Cristiano elected as Caobisco trade association president

Aldo Cristiano, of Ferrero, has been elected as the president of Caobisco, the European chocolate, biscuits and confectionery association, for a term of two years.

He began his career at Aldi Süd, and moved to Ferrero over 20 years ago when its chocolate factory was built in Stadtallendorf. Cristiano started his career in raw cocoa purchasing in Germany and then spent 15 years in Global Raw Materials Purchasing at Ferrero in Luxembourg, as Head of Group Raw Material Procurement.

In autumn 2018, he returned to Germany as Head of Sustainability, and last summer, he took over the entire Institutional Affairs division in Germany.

Aldo Cristiano had been nominated as a candidate for this office by the Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI). He has been Head of the Chocolate Product Group and Deputy Chairman of the BDSI since May 2019.

He has also held various positions in several associations, including Caobisco, the Federation of Cocoa Commerce (FCC), the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), and the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI).

Aldo Cristiano, who was elected as president by Caobisco’s general assembly, is the fourth president to be nominated by the BDSI, after Dr. Hans Lange (Nestlé), Dr. Dietmar Kendziur (also Ferrero), and Tobias Bachmüller (Katjes). The German organisation congratulated him on his appointment, and wished him well with his position. He is set to be among keynote speakers at the World Confectionery Conference event in Brussels.

Cristiano succeeds Mary Barnard, of Mondelez International, who served as a Confectionery Production editorial board member during the past two years, and championed a number of key issues, including the organisation’s Treatwell campaign aimed at responsible enjoyment of confectionery.

Caobisco, which represents a total of 13,000 companies in the sector, has championed best practice in the sector, and has recently urged EU-UK trade negotiators to extend talks beyond the end of this year to avert a ‘no deal’ Brexit, which the organisation believes would be particularly damaging to the £6 billion worth of annual trade between the two sides.

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