Following Ferrero’s recent acquisition of breakfast cereal manufacturer WK Kellogg Co, the company has appointed a new COO: Jean-Baptiste Santoul, who gained extensive international experience at Henkel (where he headed the Benelux division) and Ferrero.
New chapter
Until recently, Santoul was Chief Sales & Business Development Officer at Ferrero Group at the company’s headquarters in Luxembourg, and before that he was president and managing director of Ferrero France. Earlier in his career, Santoul held various management positions at Henkel in France, Germany, the Benelux, and North Africa.
Santoul’s appointment as Chief Operating Officer follows Ferrero’s recent acquisition of WK Kellogg Co and heralds a new chapter for the iconic cereal company. “This is a pivotal moment for WK Kellogg Co and for the future of breakfast cereals in North America – the category that Mr. Kellogg himself created,” said Santoul.
The company also announced that Gary Pilnick, chairman and CEO since the spin-off of WK Kellogg Co from Kellogg Company in 2023, has left the company at the end of 2025.
