Our Leaders

Dan Magliocco was named President, North America in May 2024, after serving as President, Danone Canada since 2019. As leader of the Danone North American business, Dan is focused on the company’s continued growth and competitiveness as a top-tier Consumer Packaged Goods business and a partner of choice for our customers, while being guided by the company’s mission of bringing health through food to as many people as possible.  

Dan has over 30 years of FMCG experience. Before Danone, Dan served as President of Mondelēz Canada from 2012-2016. Prior to that, he held various senior level executive leadership roles with Kraft Foods Canada between 2001-2011, leading strategy, innovation and category businesses.

Dan was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He earned a Bachelor of Business Degree from York University and his MBA from York University Schulich School of Business. He was inducted into the Grocery Magazine Hall of Fame in 2023.

As Chief HR Officer for North America, Silvio Amorosino leads a dedicated team of HR professionals with a focused mission: to foster and cultivate a dynamic, inclusive, and high-energy work environment for Danone's operations in the United States and Canada.

Silvio embarked on his journey with Danone in 2011, when he joined as HR Director in Brazil. His career took an international turn in 2016 when he relocated to White Plains, N.Y., to spearhead HR business services for North America. During this time, he played a pivotal role in managing HR operations and orchestrating the HR integration of WhiteWave Foods with Danone in 2017. Subsequently, he assumed global HR responsibilities for Danone’s Early Life Nutrition business, based in the Netherlands, where he showcased his strategic HR expertise on a global scale and led the Global integration of ELN and AMN businesses into Specialized Nutrition Division. In 2019, Silvio returned to the United States to assume the role of Chief HR Officer for North America. 

Prior to joining Danone, Silvio held prominent HR roles at renowned organizations including Kraft, LVMH Wines & Spirits, International Flavors and Fragrances, and Mondelēz International.

Silvio’s roots trace back to Brazil, where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in business administration and human resources from Escola Superior de Administração e Negocios and Fundação Getulio Vargas respectively, solidifying his commitment to the HR field.

Linda Bethea was named Danone North America’s Chief Marketing Officer in June 2024. Linda leads a cross-functional team responsible for delivering best-in-class marketing across Danone’s beloved portfolio of brands, including Silk, International Delight, Activia, Oikos, evian, and Happy Family. 

Prior to joining Danone in 2020, Linda was Vice President of Marketing at Diageo, the world’s largest spirits company, where she was responsible for turning around Captain Morgan, their flagship rum brand in North America. Linda began her marketing career at PepsiCo, where she spent 11 years in marketing, innovation, and sales roles across Frito-Lay, the Pepsi-Lipton Partnership, and the Pepsi Beverages Company. Key highlights include turning around the Lay’s potato chip brand, managing the $4B iced tea portfolio, and expanding the Aquafina water portfolio into new spaces through the launch of LifeWtr premium water and bubly sparking water.

Linda earned her BA from Tufts University and her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

As Chief Sales, Commercial & Customer Officer, Kristina Cole is responsible for driving sales and revenue for Danone North America across all classes of trade including foodservice and e-commerce. Kristina leads a commercial/sales team of passionate Danoners focused on revenue growth and category and commercial strategy – all aligned with Danone’s mission of bringing health through food to as many people as possible. 

With more than 30 years experience in the consumer packaged goods industry, Kristina joined Danone (then WhiteWave Foods) in 2008, where she held several sales leadership roles including President of Vega and President/General Manager of Danone’s away-from-home business. Prior to joining Danone, Kristina held various topline sales leadership positions at Conagra Brands. 

Kristina also serves as the Executive Sponsor of Danone’s LIFT (Leading and Inspiring Female Talent) Employee Resource Group (ERG), where she helps foster diversity and inclusion by creating an environment where women at Danone can flourish through inspiration and empowerment. She has also been recognized as a Dress for Success Honoree, which honors women who embody the organization’s mission of providing job access, career advancement and financial wellness for women. 

Kristina earned a bachelor's degree in finance from California State University in Fresno, California, and currently lives in Colorado.

Nancy Dowling was named General Secretary for North America in 2024, overseeing the legal, regulatory, compliance, communications, public affairs and security functions. Nancy joined Danone in 2006 and has served in various global roles including General Counsel, Specialized Nutrition based in Amsterdam, and Global General Counsel for the Essential Dairy and Plant-Based business unit, with teams based in Paris and New York.

Before starting at Danone, Nancy worked for Sears Roebuck and Company and World Kitchen in Chicago. She started her career at The Procter & Gamble Company, where she worked as Senior Counsel supporting the business in a variety of roles and prior to that as a litigator at Keck, Mahin and Cate in Chicago.

Nancy currently sits on Danone’s Global Legal and Compliance Board and is on the boards of the Westchester County chapter of the American Heart Association and the Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution.

Nancy earned a bachelor’s degree in art from the University of Chicago and her law degree from the University of Florida.

John Fidanza has been Danone’s SVP, Danone Business Services Americas since 2023. In this role, which includes oversight of teams across both North America and Latin America, John leads critical support functions and end-to-end processes for the organization including record to report, invoice to cash, procure to pay, employee services and master data management. 

With a Danone career spanning more than 20 years, John has served in various finance, business planning and business services roles since joining the company in 2003. Prior to Danone, John worked for KPMG in audit and assurance and for Diageo in financial planning and analysis.

John is originally from New York. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut, and also has earned his CPA certification.  He currently lives in Connecticut.

Stéphane Gayet is Danone North America’s Chief Financial Officer, leading business finance for all categories of the company in the U.S. and Canada, together with his team of highly committed and skilled finance professionals. He is a key strategic business partner to the CEO and leadership team, driving the value creation agenda and involved in the co-creation of the multi-year strategic plan and annual operating plan as well as in-year delivery of business performance on all key metrics. 

With a Danone career of more than 20 years, Stéphane has served in a number of finance leadership roles of increasing scale and responsibility across multiple businesses and geographies. These include RBS (Regional Business Services) VP Finance Asia-Pacific Middle-East and Greater China (based in Singapore), Business Control Director for the Dairy Worldwide Division (based in Paris, France), and Finance Director for evian-Volvic Asia-Pacific (based in Tokyo, Japan). Earlier in his Danone career, Stéphane also held several finance positions in the Water Worldwide Division and Danone Waters France (based in Paris). 

Stéphane is originally from Paris, and earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris (CentraleSupélec) in Paris. He also earned a master’s degree in management science & engineering (MS&E) from Stanford University in California. Stéphane currently resides in New York. 

Nandha Kumar is the Chief Information Technology and Data Officer Americas, responsible for North America and Latin America's information technology and data functions. Nandha is focused on steering strategic priorities, digitization, and capability-building while partnering across business functions to drive consistent improvement and unlock growth. 

Before joining Danone in 2022, Nandha worked in various IT & Data roles across sales, finance, marketing, manufacturing, supply chain, direct-to-consumer, go-to-market and retail. Nandha has held roles in finance, accounting and supply chain functions to broaden his skillset and build his business experience. He has worked at Gillette, Procter & Gamble and NIKE. Prior to Danone, he led NIKE's digital transformation strategy, delivery and analytics as Senior Director of Global Sourcing and Manufacturing.  

Nandha is an Executive Member of The Omniscient Grocer Council and is the Executive Sponsor of Danone’s ABLE employee resource group and Co-sponsor of DEI for IT & Data at Danone. 

Nandha is originally from Coimbatore, India, and earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Tamil Nadu College of Engineering in India. He earned his MBA from D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University in Boston.

Viral Parekh was named Chief Strategy Officer in May 2024. He leads a team responsible for evolving the strategic direction of the company – driving the strategy & business planning, analytics & insights, innovation, transformation, and sustainability agendas.

Viral has spent the last 15+ years in food and beverages with a proven track record of building high-value teams and leading across silos to drive profitable, sustainable growth across both leading and emerging brands. Prior to joining Danone, Viral held a variety of roles across strategy, planning, analytics and finance at both Coca-Cola and Bellring Brands.

Originally from California, Viral earned bachelor's degrees in economics and English from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He currently resides in the New York metropolitan area.

Mike Sloboda serves as Chief Operations Officer, leading efforts across manufacturing, logistics, customer service, procurement, sales and operations planning, quality and food safety. Mike joined Danone in 2020 as the supply chain lead for the Vega business unit. He also worked for WhiteWave Foods as VP of Logistics from 2014-2017 prior to Danone’s acquisition of WhiteWave. 

In addition to Danone and WhiteWave, Mike held various supply chain, procurement, manufacturing and logistics roles with H.J. Heinz Company and Molson Coors Brewing Company. 

Mike is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and earned degrees in industrial engineering and business administration from Geneva College in Pennsylvania. He currently resides in Colorado. 

Susan Zaripheh joined Danone as Chief Research and Innovation Officer for North America in August 2024. In this role, she leads the development of a consumer centric and competitively advantaged portfolio of plant-based and dairy products with a central focus on bringing health through food to as many people as possible.  

Susan has 25 years of experience at leading CPG companies and a strong track record of translating consumer insights into market-winning products to drive growth. Prior to joining Danone, Susan held various key positions with increasing accountability at Coca-Cola, including VP of Global R&D for the Global Juice Category and North America Nutrition Business.

Susan’s roles at Coca-Cola also included Strategic Planning and Performance, Chief of Staff to the Chief Technical Officer for Coca-Cola North America, and R&D and Technical lead for Emerging Brands and Transformational Innovation. Before joining Coca-Cola she held positions at Sara Lee, Hillshire Brands, Dairy Management Inc. and Nestle. Susan is originally from Ohio. She earned a Ph.D. in nutrition from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in food science from The Ohio State University.

As General Manager, Yogurt, Rafael Acevedo leads Danone North America’s market-leading brands in dairy yogurt.  

Prior to joining Danone in 2023, Rafael served as Chief Marketing Officer at Dunkin’, leading full integrated marketing capabilities including brand marketing, R&D, innovation, commercialization, experiential, field marketing, customer experience, digital and loyalty. Rafael spent more than 19 years with The Coca-Cola Company in a wide range of brand management and GM roles. Rafael also led the brand turnaround for Diet Coke, as well as the company’s tea and energy drink portfolio, Sprite and Coke Zero. He also worked for Diageo and KPMG. 

Rafael received his undergraduate degree in banking, finance and general management from Universidad Metropolitana in Venezuela, and his MBA from Emory University.

Domenic Borrelli was named General Manager, Beverages in May 2024, and oversees Danone North America’s full beverage portfolio, including International Delight, STōK and evian. Domenic joined Danone in 2018 as President, Premium Dairy, and has also led Danone’s Plant Based-Food and Beverages portfolio. 

Prior to Danone, Domenic worked as Vice President and General Manager, Sustainable Meats for Maple Leaf Foods, scaling up the business and accelerating growth in premium fresh and packaged meats. He also spent more than 19 years at Kraft Foods in a variety of marketing and general management roles across refreshment beverages, coffee and grocery categories, and oversaw the company’s cheese and meals divisions. 

Domenic earned an honors bachelor’s degree in science, biology and psychology from York University in Toronto, Canada, and an MBA from York’s Schulich School of Business.

Severine Brichard-Rooney was named General Manager, Nutricia North America in June 2024, after serving as Danone’s Chief Marketing Officer for the China North Asia Oceania region since 2019.

She started her career with Danone in Ireland as a management trainee in 2000 and has experience in diverse marketing and strategy positions. She worked in local roles in Ireland and China, global roles out of the Danone Place Amsterdam offices, and regional roles out of Hong Kong/Shanghai. Severine has worked across all Danone product categories, with a long tenure in Specialized Nutrition. As current lead over Danone North America’s Specialized Nutrition business, Severine leads a team of 200+ Danoners who are passionate about bringing life-transforming nutrition to consumers, patients and families.

A dual French-Irish citizen, Severine earned her MBA from ESSEC Business School in Paris and a law degree from the University of Wales.  

Frederic Guichard holds an engineering degree from the Arts et Métiers engineering school in Paris, as well as a master’s degree in marketing and communication from ESCP Business School. He started his career in Canada as a marketeer for Pernod-Ricard in 1997, before joining Groupe Danone in 1999 in France. After 10 years in various marketing roles in the dairy business unit, he moved to the French waters division of Danone in 2009 as Vice President Marketing. 

In 2014, Frederic was promoted to General Manager for evian Volvic International where he developed our brands and business across more than 100 countries, primarily in Asia and Middle-East. He then spent four years as a GM in Poland, driving Danone Waters teams to sustainable profitable growth and market share turnaround before leading a major transformation project across central and Eastern Europe. 

He has been for the past three years the GM for the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) regional and cross-category business unit (Dairy, Plant-based, Specialized Nutrition), accelerating sales growth and profitability but also leading the teams toward important milestones on Danone’s sustainability roadmap (Danone Impact Journey) and achieving its first BCorp certification in 2023 with a high score. He became GM over Canada in 2024.

Anne Laraway is General Manager, Happy Family. Anne joined Happy Family in 2012 and led marketing, innovation and business development for Happy Family before being named Chief Executive Officer in 2017. 

Anne started her career at General Mills and Unilever, working in finance and brand management. She first learned about Happy Family Organics after hearing its founder, Shazi Visram, speak at Columbia Business School in 2008. 

In addition to her role at Danone, Anne is a board member at Newman’s Own Inc. Originally from Minnesota, Anne earned bachelor’s degrees in finance and management from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she also played on the women’s basketball team. Additionally, Anne holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Wendy Nunnelley was named General Manager, Plant-Based in May 2024. In this role, she oversees the plant-based food and beverages business for Danone.  

Wendy joined Danone North America in 2021 as Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, leading the strategy, planning, transformation, analytics, insights, innovation, communications and sustainability agendas. She led a large-scale transformation across all areas of the business and evolved the strategic direction of the company to enable sustained growth and value creation.  

Prior to Danone, Wendy was Global SVP of Growth and SVP of Revenue Growth Management at Diageo. Before Diageo, she held multiple leadership roles over several years at The Coca-Cola Company in both the U.S. and Japan. Wendy also worked for The Boston Consulting Group in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.  

Originally from New Mexico, Wendy earned a Bachelor's Degree in math, economics and managerial studies from Rice University in Houston, and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.