Giovanna 'Gigi' Vita Appointed to President, Fonterra North America

CHICAGO, Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- New Zealand-based Fonterra Co-operative Group, the world's leading innovative dairy solutions provider, today announced that Giovanna "Gigi" Vita has been appointed to the position of President, Fonterra North America. Vita joins a company that has been providing innovative dairy ingredient solutions to leading food companies in North America for more 60 years, focused on ingredients for cheese, cultured products, paediatric and functional nutrition, organics, and the foodservice channel.

Vita will be based at Fonterra North America's corporate headquarters in Rosemont, Ill., just outside of Chicago. She will be responsible for overseeing operations in the USA, Canada, Caribbean and Central America. Vita comes from PepsiAmericas where she was senior vice president, marketing and sales strategy.

"Gigi has demonstrated a strong foundation in respect to sales processes, customer and channel alignment, and leadership," said Andrei Mikhalevsky, managing director Fonterra Global Ingredients. "She brings a track record of business profitability, building organizational strength, and delivering a strong customer focus. We are confident that she will effectively be able to implement this knowledge into her new position and positively support Fonterra's North American operations."

Prior to her role at PepsiAmericas, Vita was vice president of sales at Nabisco International, where she directed global and regional sales training initiatives on strategic selling and customer trade spending. She was also responsible for integrating the United Biscuits Company in Asia into Nabisco International.

"It's an exciting time to join Fonterra and build upon its reputation for providing world-class dairy ingredient solutions to many of the top food companies in North America," Vita said. "The company's focus on dairy innovation positions us well to work hand-in-hand with customers to develop the next generation of dairy-based solutions."

Fonterra Ingredients sources the highest-quality dairy ingredients for inclusion in value add and specialty products for customers in developed markets such as the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. Vita will report to Blake Anderson, Director of Fonterra's Value Add Ingredients business.

Fonterra is represented in 140 countries and territories around the world, with a network of offices and technical centers to serve its customers. For more information on Fonterra North America, visit www.fonterra-northamerica.com.

About Fonterra:

Fonterra is a global leader in dairy nutrition – the preferred supplier of dairy ingredients to many of the world's leading food companies. Fonterra is also a market leader with our own consumer dairy brands in Australia/New Zealand, Asia/Africa, Middle East and Latin America. The farmer-owned New Zealand co-operative is the largest processor of milk in the world, producing more than two million tons of dairy ingredients, value added dairy ingredients, specialty ingredients and consumer products every year. Drawing on generations of dairy expertise, Fonterra is one of the largest investors in dairy based research and innovation in the world. Our 16,000 staff work across the dairy spectrum from advising farmers on sustainable farming and milk production, to ensuring we live up to exacting quality standards and delivering every day on our customer promise in more than 100 markets around the world.

SOURCE Fonterra