Sucden appoints new Head of Cocoa sustainability
Sucden is pleased to announce that Ms. Ilaria Ida Walton will join the Sucden cocoa team on January 13th, 2025, as the Head of Cocoa Sustainability. Sustainability has long been at the heart of Sucden cocoa’s strategy, with a strong involvement in implementing sustainability programs, as well as in setting ambitious action plans to set responsible practices beyond compliance. Sucden’s Head of Cocoa Sustainability will build upon this historical commitment to further enhance its strategy and practices and meet the growing requirements from regulators and business partners.
Ilaria will be joining Sucden following three years at Mars Incorporated where she provided leadership and guidance on sourcing strategies designed specifically to help farmers escape poverty. During that time, she also managed the Farmer Income Lab. Ilaria brings expertise, an external perspective, and important technical capabilities to the Sucden Sustainability organization overall.
Ilaria has over two decades of management experience in sustainability, innovation, social impact and purpose-led marketing. During 12 years at Unilever, she designed and managed the Enhancing Livelihoods Program across several crops, including cocoa, tea, vanilla as well as business partnered brands like Magnum to embed social impact as part of their core. She also served as Head of Social Mission for Ben & Jerry’s.
Ilaria has lived and worked in the UK, Honduras, Germany, Singapore, the Netherlands, and now in Italy.