Mondelēz appoints new executive vice president, as it reveals due diligence report

Mondelēz International has unveiled Amit Banati as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, having previously served in a parallel role at Kellanova, writes Neill Barston.

The company’s new senior appointee will report to Dirk Van de Put, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, and will be a member of the company’s Leadership Team, as it continues to drive its operations around the world, with the business releasing a key update on its drive to support supply chains with improved monitoring and farming community backing.

Confectionery Production recently met with the business at this year’s Sweets & Snacks Expo event in Las Vegas, US, in which it showcased key innovations across its portfolio, with the company being notably active in promotions building-up to this year’s World Cup event being hosted in America. (See Jen Levin, senior brand manager for Sour Patch, discussing latest releases from the company, among our exclusive 2026 video event review below).

Following Banati’s appointment as executive vice president, Luca Zaramella will continue as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, focusing his leadership on the Company’s commercial operations, including its four geographical regions, corporate sales, marketing and supply chain functions.

For his part, Banati most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Kenvue, Inc. Prior to Kenvue, he served as Vice Chair and Chief Financial Officer of Kellanova, formerly Kellogg Company.

He began his career at Kellogg as President for the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, where he drove regional growth and transformation before being promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Kellogg, he held progressively responsible management, financial and strategic leadership roles at Proctor & Gamble, Cadbury Schweppes and Mondelēz predecessor company Kraft Foods following the Cadbury acquisition.

“Amit is a highly experienced CFO who brings a strong blend of financial leadership and commercial acumen spanning multiple consumer businesses,” Van de Put said. “His track record of delivering results and building talent across large, global businesses as a CFO, alongside his breadth of general management and emerging market experience, will provide important perspective to our leadership team. I look forward to working with him to deliver against our strategic growth agenda.”

“I am delighted to rejoin Mondelēz International,” said Banati. “I am excited to return to a company and set of brands that I know well. The company has an iconic portfolio, an advantaged global footprint and a talented team. I look forward to working closely with Dirk and the entire team to advance the company’s strategy, achieve its significant growth potential and continue its strong track record of profitable growth.”

Human rights report release
Notably, as the globe marked World Day Against Child Labour on 12 june, the company released its  2025 Human Rights Due Diligence and Modern Slavery Report, outlining the company’s continued progress to help prevent, identify and address potential human rights and modern slavery risks across its operations and value chain.

As reported last week, the last available public data analysing child labour found that rates still stood at 1.5 million minors being at risk from the worst forms of labour across the sector, which the business has sought to address through engagement programmes, training and education provision alongside other major industry players.

The issue of sector sustainability is once again to be placed in the spotlight for our World Confectionery Conference, as the event makes a switch this year to London, on 10 September. Registration for the sector showcase is now fully open via our dedicated website.

Among its headline attainments in the past year, 100% of its owned manufacturing sites (vs. ~96% in ’24) and ~99% of prioritized tier-1 suppliers (vs. ~98% in ’24) have completed third-party SMETA audits in the past 3 years.

Within cocoa chains, it reached its 2025 goal of ~100% Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation Systems (CLMRS) coverage of Cocoa Life communities in West Africa – representing approximately 2,300 communities.

Furthermore, 100 strategic suppliers for Mondelēz International engaged in joint industry trainings across key sourcing countries Brazil, India, Mexico and the US, to help suppliers implement HRDD leading practices since 2024.

In addition, the company noted that some 50,000 colleagues trained on human rights issues, including ~7,000 in manufacturing and logistics and ~3,000 in key stewardship roles, since launching its dedicated Human Rights Policy in 2021, which it believed were steadily making a positive impact.

“We continue to believe that helping to drive positive change at scale across the communities our business touches is an integral part of value creation. Simply put, we believe that more sustainable business is, and always will be, good business,” said Darren O’Brien, Chief Corporate & Government Affairs Officer & Chief Cocoa Officer, Mondelēz International.

“That’s why an enhanced human rights due diligence approach enables us to increase focus and scale, meeting our long-term goals and addressing systemic human rights issues in ingredient supply chains through meaningful partnerships.”