Retail 2024: POUL WEIHRAUCH

Since taking the reins at the candy and pet food giant in September 2022, Weihrauch has been aiming to double its sales by 2033. In service to that expansion, Mars acquired six candy and veterinary companies in 2023 and 2024. These include Hotel Chocolat, the United Kingdom’s largest chocolate maker, and ownership stakes in Cerba Vet, a network of veterinary diagnostics labs in France, and Antagene, which provides DNA testing for animals.

With $50 billion in sales in 2023, Mars is the largest privately held company in Virginia and the fourth largest in the nation, with approximately 150,000 employees worldwide. Mars is best known for candy brands like M&Ms, Snickers and 3 Musketeers produced through its Mars Snacking division, but its Mars Petcare veterinary care and pet foods branch accounted for about 60% of the company’s 2023 revenue.

In August, Mars entered into a $35.9 billion deal to purchase Kellanova, the maker of Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Pringles, Eggo and other food brands. Kellanova was created in October 2023 after Kellogg’s split into two companies, spinning off its cereal division as W.K. Kellogg Co.

Weihrauch joined Mars in 2000 as European brand leader for Snickers, and eventually became president of food and multisales, then president of Mars’ global
pet care brand.

Weihrauch has an MBA from Denmark’s Aalborg University and a master’s degree from Scotland’s Strathclyde Business School. In April, he joined the board of German multinational chemical and consumer goods company Henkel AG & Co.