BENEO appoints Dr Uwe Boltersdorf as chief operating officer
The leadership change is expected to ensure continuity while reinforcing Beneo’s focus on operational resilience and sustainable growth within the competitive global ingredients market.
GERMANY – BENEO GmbH, a leading manufacturer of functional ingredients for food, feed and pharmaceutical industries, has appointed Dr Uwe Boltersdorf as Chief Operating Officer (COO) effective from February 1, 2026.
This leadership addition strengthens BENEO’s operational backbone amid surging global demand for clean-label, sugar-reduced products in a functional ingredients market growing at 7% CAGR.
Boltersdorf, aged 52, succeeds Dr Mike Eberle, who departed in October 2025 to lead Südzucker’s Sugar Division, and will oversee production, technology, supply chain, quality assurance, raw material sourcing, health/safety/environmental protection, and sustainability initiatives.
Concurrently retaining his COO role at sister company CropEnergies AG, appointed on April 1, 2025, this dual mandate leverages synergies in biomass processing and renewable products, aligning with BENEO’s sustainability goals to achieve carbon-neutral operations by 2030.
A chemical engineering doctorate from the University of Dortmund and Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT, Boltersdorf brings over 25 years of international expertise from Bayer AG and Lanxess AG in specialty chemicals, thyssenkrupp’s Chemical/Process Technologies unit as Chief Sales Officer (2014 to 2021), and Sulzer AG’s Chemtech Division President.
His track record spans plant engineering, process optimization, and scaling operations across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, positioning him to enhance BENEO’s supply chain resilience amid volatile input costs and regulatory pressures like EU Deforestation rules.
Boltersdorf commented: “I am excited to have the opportunity to use my 25 years of international experience in the plant engineering and chemical industries to support BENEO’s growth trajectory. Operations play a critical role in enabling us to serve our customers and meet market requirements. I look forward to driving further operational excellence by leveraging the synergies in my two senior leadership roles as COO at BENEO and CropEnergies AG.”
BENEO’s annual revenue stems from production sites in Europe, Asia, and the US, serving the bakery, beverages, dairy, and confectionery sectors with science-backed solutions that improve taste, texture, and support health claims.
This appointment bolsters BENEO’s agility as it invests over five years in capacity expansions and R&D for plant-based innovations, responding to consumer shifts toward gut-healthy prebiotics and low-carb alternatives.
Additionally, Dr Boltersdorf’s appointment follows a period of strategic focus across the ingredients sector on sustainability, traceability and cost‑efficient manufacturing.
BENEO said it looks forward to leveraging his engineering and operational expertise to meet customer needs and to support the company’s growth ambitions in health‑focused ingredient segments.
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