New GM for Wrigley Pacific

Patrick Gantier, former general manager of Mars Food France, has been appointed general manager of Wrigley Pacific.

Mr Gantier joined Mars Food France in 2008 as marketing director and was appointed general manager in 2011. He takes over from Andrew Leakey, who held the role of  general manager for Wrigley Pacific until the end December 2015, who has been named general manager of Mars Chocolate India. Mr Leakey relocated to Delhi in January where he is overseeing the building of a new US$160m factory by Mars Chocolate in Pune.

Prior to joining Mars, Mr Gantier worked for 12 years in various marketing roles in France, Central Europe and the US for prominent French multinational cheese manufacturer BEL, where he had success in building brands and effective marketing teams in diverse market environments.

Wrigley Pacific recorded solid growth in 2015 off the back of its well executed relaunch Extra chewing gum and the popularity of highly successful brands like Starburst, Skittles and Eclipse mints.

“It is a great time to be joining Wrigley Pacific,” Mr Gantier said.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to explore how we can use local and global shopper insights to partner with retailers and implement forward thinking merchandising solutions. I’m thrilled to be working with such a high performing team and look forward to driving ways in which we can improve the shopping experience and continue to deliver impressive results to drive growth in the gum, mint and confectionery categories.”