Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company Names Dushan Petrovich President
CHICAGO, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company today
named Dushan (Duke) Petrovich as President, effective immediately.
Petrovich has been with Wrigley for more than 30 years and will be
responsible for the company's worldwide strategy, operations and business
performance.
In his new role, Petrovich will continue to work closely with company
Chairman Bill Wrigley, Jr., and both will report to Paul S. Michaels,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Mars, Incorporated. The Wrigley
Company was acquired and became a subsidiary of privately held Mars on
October 6.
A native of the Wrigley Company's hometown of Chicago, Mr. Petrovich
began his career in the Wrigley finance department and later served as Vice
President, Corporate Controller and Vice President, Corporate Treasurer. In
his most recent role as Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative
Officer, Mr. Petrovich has been responsible for many of the company's vital
functions, including global supply chain, global procurement, information
technology, People, Learning and Development (the company's human resources
organization), corporate communications and global real estate. He also has
responsibilities for commercial operations in Latin America.
"Duke has played an important role in the transformation and ongoing
growth of Wrigley throughout the years," said Bill Wrigley, Jr. "He has
served on our Executive Leadership Team for more than 10 years, and has
proven himself to be a strong and visionary leader. Given his experience,
combined with his ability to respect the company's heritage while remaining
focused on our future, Duke is the right leader at the right time for our
company."
Commenting on the appointment, Paul S. Michaels said: "The combination
of Duke's deep-seated understanding of Wrigley's operations, respect among
the company's associates, and financial expertise makes him the ideal
person to connect Wrigley into the Mars organization and build future
growth for the business."
Petrovich is President of the Wrigley Foundation and is a member of the
Board of Trustees of Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. He is also a member of
the City of Chicago's Sister Cities Belgrade Committee.
William D. Perez, who previously served as President and Chief
Executive Officer of Wrigley, will support the company in an advisory
capacity through the end of 2008. "It has been a pleasure to work with Bill
Wrigley, Jr. and the great team of people here at Wrigley to help drive
growth and success for our brands, and I wish the combined organization
nothing but success in the future."
Bill Wrigley, Jr., commented, "Over the last two years, Bill Perez
helped us grow profitably, build brands and improve our discipline and
focus as a public company. We appreciate the important contributions he has
made to our company and our people."
About the Wrigley Company
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company is a recognized leader in confections with a
wide range of product offerings including gum, mints, hard and chewy
candies, lollipops, and chocolate. The Company has operations in more than
40 countries and distributes its world-famous brands in more than 180
countries. Three of these brands - Wrigley's Spearmint(R), Juicy Fruit(R),
and Altoids(R) - have heritages stretching back more than a century. Other
well-loved brands include Doublemint(R), Life Savers(R), Skittles(R), Big
Red(R), Boomer(R), Pim Pom(R), Winterfresh(R), Extra(R), Starburst(R),
Freedent(R), Hubba Bubba(R), Orbit(R), Excel(R), Creme Savers(R), Lucas(R),
Eclipse(R), Airwaves(R), Solano(R), Sugus(R), Lockets(R), P.K. (R), Cool
Air(R) and 5(TM). Wrigley is headquartered in Chicago, IL and operates as a
subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated, based in McLean, VA. Mars is a
$27-billion, family-owned company that produces some of the world's leading
confectionery, food and petcare products and has growing beverage and
health & nutrition businesses.
Monday, October 20, 2008
2300 Wrigley's
It is so ironic to find changes being made to the Wrigley company as I am working on a project for one of my classes dealing with Wrigley. It is a mock advertisement for the company to learn how it is done. This release is exactly what i picture one to be. This personally is not a story i would want to write on but it is a great example of PR in progress.
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