John Verbakel is Chief R&D Officer at Upfield. John has over 30 years of experience in the FMCG company Unilever. In Unilever, he has served in multiple senior leadership roles in Research & Development and Supply Chain, at local, regional, and global level and in various countries and product categories. He has been part of the Upfield Leadership from the start of Upfield in 2017, transforming a declining spreads business into a growing, multicategory plant-based foods
business.
Upfield is the world’s largest plant-based foods company active in plant margarine, plant butter, plant creams and plant cheese with brands like Flora, Becel, Country Crock and Blue Band. Upfield is committed to making consumers healthier and happier with delicious and nutritious plant-based foods which are better for our planet. In Upfield, John is responsible for both strategy and execution of product, innovation,
and technology. John holds a PhD in Molecular Biotechnology and a Masters in Biology & Chemistry.
