Pladis appoints new senior staff for UK, global operations
New entrants will occupy the positions of chief commercial officer and regional managing director.
UK – Pladis, a snacking giant headquartered in the UK and a subsidiary of the Turkish food group Yildiz, which owns the McVitie’s and GODIVA brands, has announced a series of leadership changes.
David Murray, currently leading Pladis UK and Ireland, will transition to the newly established position of global chief commercial officer. In his new role, Murray will oversee the company’s global platform and brand strategy as well as its commercial transformation.
Effective April 6, Mete Buyurgan will become the new managing director for Pladis across Britain and Ireland.
Buyurgan, an eight-year veteran of Pladis, will be joining the Anglo-Irish division from his previous role managing the company’s operations in Turkey, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia since 2016.
Under his leadership, Pladis Türkiye, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia have seen revenue and profit growth despite significant challenges, positioning the company at the forefront of sustainability discussions.
Geraldine Fraser, chief human resources officer, remarked that although brands like McVitie’s and Ülker have been part of people’s lives for decades, Pladis is still a relatively young business, having started operations just nine years ago.
“We have made tremendous progress together in our mission to build one of the world’s fastest-growing snacks companies. Today, we take another step on that journey to evolve our business and position ourselves for continuous growth in an ever-changing retail and consumer landscape,” Fraser added.
Founded in 2016, Pladis employs a team of 16,000 across 27 bakeries and factories in 11 countries. Its brands, including McVitie’s, Ülker, and Flipz, are sold in over 110 nations. In the most recent financial year, ending in 2023, Pladis reported group revenue exceeding £2.7 billion (US$3.4B).
These developments come in the wake of Pladis announcing on February 24, 2025, that its CEO, Salman Amin, stepped down, citing personal reasons.
Following Amin’s departure, Sridhar Ramamurthy, chief financial officer, and Tim Brett, managing director for Europe and developing markets, who have held leadership roles at Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company respectively, assumed temporary oversight of Pladis.
Amin had been with the company for six years, having joined as chief executive in February 2019. Prior to that, he served as a non-executive director at ITV.
His extensive experience in the FMCG sector includes 17 years at PepsiCo, where he held positions such as executive vice president, chief marketing officer, and president of the UK and Ireland. He also served as chief operating officer for global commercial markets at SC Johnson.
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