Westfalia Fruit International Ltd has announced that Hans Eben has taken on the role of CEO at its fully owned subsidiary Agricom Ltda, one of Chile's leading avocado exporters.

Westfalia said Eben is well known in Chile, having spent the past 18 years in leadership positions within Unilever.   

Eben will be succeeding Rodrigo Barros, the founder of Agricom, who has retired after four decades at the helm of this leading Chilean agribusiness. Born in Chile, Hans has worked his entire career at Unilever, heading up companies with manufacturing plants and operations under his scope.

His most recent role was as Country Manager for Unilever in Chile. Prior to that, Hans served as Unilever Country Manager in Peru as well as Marketing Director for Unilever in Latin America. Early in his career Hans was based in the UK where he was Vice President of the Unilever Marketing Academy.

In his new role Hans will be managing all aspects of the Agricom business in Chile, providing strategic, financial, operational and stakeholder support to ensure the sustainability, profitability and further advancement of the business.

“I’m excited to be contributing towards the wellbeing of millions of people around the world with the sustainably grown, nutritious and colourful products of the Westfalia family,” states Eben, who is based at Agricom’s Santiago headquarters.

Alk Brand, CEO of Westfalia Fruit, said: “We are pleased that Hans agreed to join us at an exciting time for the Group and for our Chilean operation. Chile is a strategic region for Westfalia and we look forward to continuing to promote Chilean fruit and our growers through our global platforms.

"The skills that Hans brings are ideal for the execution of this vision.”

Westfalia said Eben believes in making a difference in society and the industries in which he operates, which is demonstrated by the positions he has previously held including: Director Icare and President Innovation Committee (1200-company association); President Global Pact United Nations, connecting Industry, Government, NGOs on SDGs; President Advisory Board B Corp Chile; Advisory Board Digital Talent Chile.

His previous positions also include: Consultant to the Minister of Women on gender-based violence and Minister of Science for Technology based companies; Advisory Board for “We Need to talk about Chile”/”Tenemos que Hablar de Chile”; Speaker different forums about Sustainable Business eg COP25 Madrid; Past Director Food and Beverage Association; Past Director National Association of Advertising in Chile and Peru; Past Director National Association Consumer Goods Companies Peru.