Premier Foods appoints Catherine Lloyd as CMO

Premier Foods has appointed Catherine Lloyd to the executive leadership team as chief marketing officer (CMO).

Catherine joins Premier Foods after two decades in FMCG brand and marketing roles, including over 17 years at Reckitt. She has worked in a variety of leadership roles, both in the UK and internationally, with many iconic and recognisable consumer brands. Most recently, Catherine served as vice president, marketing & strategy, for Northern Europe and ANZ, where she led the portfolio strategy for Reckitt Benckiser’s health portfolio. She also played a critical role leading the roll-out of Generative AI technology across Reckitt’s marketing operation.

The appointment comes after a rigorous recruitment process, following the departure of Yilmaz Erceyes as CMO in May. Catherine will join Premier Foods on 28 July and take up responsibility for the Group’s portfolio of leading food brands which delivered over £1bn in sales during the last financial year.

Commenting on the appointment, chief executive officer Alex Whitehouse noted the key ingredient to Premier’s success over the past six years has been its branded growth model – which sits at the heart of the business’s operations and is the model it applies to the leading brands to drive consistent and sustainable long-term growth.

“I’d like to recognise the key role Yilmaz played in helping grow our leading portfolio of brands as chief marketing officer during his time at Premier Foods and I’m delighted that in Catherine we have a brilliant successor to continue that journey,” Whitehouse said.

“We saw some excellent candidates as part of the recruitment process, but Catherine stood out because of the depth of her FMCG marketing experience, and the reputation she has for leading and developing high performing teams.”

Catherine Lloyd, chief marketing officer, added: “This is an incredible role, looking after some of the biggest and most successful food brands in the UK. I’m really looking forward to meeting the full team and to building on the work they have been doing over the past six years to take our portfolio of brands to the next stage of growth both in the UK and internationally.”