Hotel Chocolat has appointed former Kellogg’s finance director, Jon Akehurst as its new chief financial officer.
Set to replace Matt Pritchard, he will also be joining the board as an executive board director.
Pritchard stepped down from the position on 31 January after nine years, with Peter Harris set to be Hotel Chocolat’s interim CFO until Akehurst joins in May.
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Prior to his position at the confectionary retailer, Akehurst held other roles in the food industry including as commercial finance officer at Associated British Foods, brand finance manager at General Mills, as well as chief financial officer for Royal Canin UK and Ireland at FMCG giant Mars.
More recently, Akehurst was finance director of power solutions at Aggreko and has been CFO at Terumo Corporation’s Aortic Division since 2021.
“Jon joins at an exciting time for Hotel Chocolat. His skills will underpin our determination to get back to running a tight ship operating model, with EBITDA of 20% in 2025 within our sights,” Hotel Chocolat CEO, Angus Thirlwell said.
