CHICAGO — Gülen Bengi has been named chief growth officer of Mars Wrigley, effective Oct. 3. Ms. Bengi will succeed Cathryn Sleight, who, following a 30-year plus global marketing career, has decided to take a step back from full-time work to explore other opportunities.
Ms. Bengi most recently was executive vice president of hair care at Unilever PLC. Prior to Unilever she was with Kimberly-Clark for 13 years and earlier held various sales and marketing roles at Danone for eight years. She began her career in marketing at Unilever.
Ms. Bengi will lead the Mars Wrigley portfolio’s growth agenda and report to Andrew Clark, global president of Mars Wrigley.
“I’m delighted to welcome Gülen to Mars Wrigley,” Mr. Clarke said. “Her impressive track record demonstrates transformational leadership, pure marketing talent and commercial acumen that will enable her to drive growth, accelerate our innovation agenda and build new capabilities. Gülen has a passion for growing talent, building high-performance teams and developing inclusive cultures. We know she’ll help Mars Wrigley remain a leading employer that attracts and retains top talent and always fosters an environment of inclusivity.”
Ms. Sleight, who joined Mars Wrigley in 2019 and played an active role in the process to hire her successor, will stay on through December, partnering with Ms. Bengi to complete the transition.
“We are grateful to Cathryn for her exceptional and versatile leadership,” Mr. Clarke said. “In the face of uncertainty and disruption, she helped Mars Wrigley regain share growth momentum by powering our brands with meaningful purpose, building digital capabilities, gaining availability in fast-growing channels and delivering cutting edge innovation. Her ambition and contributions to our business and brands will have a lasting impact.”
