Sam is looking forward to expanding his skills and learning about a large-scale market like the US.
Sam Hopwood has been appointed as the new senior finance manager of Mars Wrigley North America, bidding goodbye to his role as the company’s CFO of its South Africa region.
“The appointment marks the end of my assignment for the South Africa role,” Sam explains, adding that it is in line with his development plan to move to a large-scale market such as North America.
Sam will be relocating to the US for the new role, and adds that he is looking forward to the new opportunity.
“The role includes a new focus area in manufacturing across North America, so there are lots of new skills to learn and a vast organisation to support.”
He has been working on his succession planning over the last year, and the company has appointed Bartek Szarapa as Sam’s replacement. “My advice to Bartek is that he needs to continue to move quickly, scenario plan, and be adaptable to a highly volatile and challenging market,” Sam says.
Sam joined the Mars group in 2011 as part of its European finance development programme, where he served as an accounting analyst, sales finance business partner and supply finance manager respectively until 2014. He was then appointed as the supply finance manager for Mars C&T in the UK.
In 2015, Sam moved to South Africa as a finance and supply manager for the group’s Wrigley South Africa division. And, after briefly serving as the CFO of the group’s Switzerland region in 2018, he was appointed into the CFO role for its South African region.
For his role as the CFO of Mars South Africa, Sam was nominated for the 2021 CFO Awards.
