Ocean Spray Cranberries names Chacko president/CEO

Lakeville-Middleboro, Massachusetts-based Ocean Spray Cranberries‘ board of directors has unanimously elected Bobby J. Chacko as president and chief executive officer. Chacko was named president and chief operating officer in January 2018. He joined Ocean Spray in 2017 as chief growth officer.

“When we first met Bobby, it quickly became clear we had found what we were looking for; a tremendous leader that could lead the next generation of talent at Ocean Spray,” said Peter Dhillon, chairman of the Ocean Spray board of directors. “This announcement is the culmination of more than a year of work by our CEO succession committee. We spent a lot of time evaluating the needs of the business, speaking to stakeholders, and ultimately looked at several candidates both internal and external. Bobby was the clear choice.”

Chacko has also been elected to join Ocean Spray’s board of directors.

“I’m truly honored for the chance to lead this iconic business,” said Chacko. “Since joining Ocean Spray last year, I’ve been so impressed with the people behind the cooperative; 700 family farms and more than 2,000 colleagues all working together to connect farms and families. Ocean Spray’s story is close to nine decades old but we are just getting started. I want to thank the board, growers, and my colleagues for giving me the opportunity to write the next chapter with them.”

Prior to joining Ocean Spray, Chacko served as regional president of Mars Drinks where he had complete responsibility for the North American business. Before joining Mars Inc., Chacko had 20 years of diverse corporate leadership and entrepreneurship experiences, encompassing strategy, innovation, marketing, and commercialization with iconic brands in category leading companies like The Coca-Cola Company, AB Inbev, and GE Capital. Chacko brings in-market general management experiences and regional perspectives on developed and emerging markets across Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe.

Chacko will replace outgoing CEO Randy Papadellis who announced he was stepping down last month.