Having joined Tetra Pak more than 24 years ago, Sara has delivered countless innovations across solutions development, programme management, and equipment engineering for the company and its food and beverage customers. Her mandate in the new role is to develop and deliver innovative solutions with the highest value for customers, collaborate across the business to accelerate their deployment, and fast-track the work to realise the company’s ambition to deliver the world’s most sustainable paper-based food and beverage package¹.

She is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and is a member of the Tetra Pak Executive Leadership Team, reporting to Adolfo Orive, President & CEO.

Holding a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design from the University of Florence and a Post-graduation Master’s in Technology and Innovation Management from the University of Bologna, Sara joined Tetra Pak in 2001 as an industrial designer for carton packaging opening systems. Her technical, relational and collaborative skills led her to become Managing Director for Tetra Pak Packaging Solutions S.p.A. in Modena, Italy, a research and development centre, and Vice President of Programme Management in D&T.

Sara De Simoni, Executive Vice President Development & Technology (D&T) at Tetra Pak, comments: “Tetra Pak D&T brings together an exceptionally talented team of designers, of doers, of people who make things happen. I am proud to be leading them in our journey to shape the future of food packaging, and I see this as an opportunity to drive forward our pursuit of innovation, design excellence and groundbreaking sustainable solutions. We will continue to focus on delivering those solutions for our customers, who are at the centre of everything we do.”

¹A carton package made of renewable or recycled materials, which are responsibly sourced, therefore helping protect and restore our planet’s climate, resources and biodiversity; contributing towards low carbon production and distribution; convenient and safe, therefore helping to enable a resilient food system; fully recyclable.

The Tetra Laval Group Board has appointed Pietro Cassani as President & CEO of Sidel effective 15 July 2024. Pietro will be based in Parma, Italy. The appointment follows the decision by Monica Gimre to step down after more than five years as President & CEO of Sidel and 41 years in total with the Tetra Laval Group.

Pietro has been CEO of the Marchesini Group for the past eight years, and before that spent over 10 years as Group General Manager of SACMI. In total he has over 30 years of business and engineering experience. He holds an Engineering degree from the University of Bologna, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the SDA Bocconi School of Management.

BENEO, a leading manufacturer of functional ingredients for food, feed and pharma announced the appointment of Dr Mike Eberle as the newest member of its Executive Board of Directors at BENEO GmbH, effective from 1st March 2024. In his new role, Eberle will be responsible for overseeing Operations at BENEO.

Eberle, who holds a PhD in Chemistry from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, brings nearly three decades of experience within the international food and beverage sector to the new role. He started his career with positions at Unilever in both Germany and The Netherlands. Following this, he has held leadership roles in production, supply chain, logistics, and operations at leading food and drink manufacturers. Most recently, Eberle was positioned as the Chief Operations Officer at Rotkäppchen, a sparkling wine producer based in Germany.

As part of the new role at BENEO, Eberle will be responsible for Operations including production, technology, supply chain management, quality, raw material, health, safety and environmental protection, as well as sustainability. His appointment comes at a pivotal time as BENEO continues to focus on the sustainable development of its plant-based functional ingredients portfolio.