OREANDA-NEWS. On March 23, 2007 Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC [NYSE: WBD], Russia’s leading producer of food and beverages, announced the appointment of Gary Sobel as Head of the Baby Food Business Unit. Mr. Sobel’s arrival at the company is the latest step in Wimm-Bill-Dann’s ongoing process of strengthening its management team, reported the press-centre of  Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC. Gary Sobel began his career at Procter and Gamble, where over 13 years he worked in various positions in Canada, the US, the UK and Russia. His experience includedworking in Procter & Gamble’s Wal-Mart Customer Team, as well as heading up In-store Marketing and New Product Performance for their Baby Care Division. From 2005, Mr. Sobel headed Dirol Cadbury (a division of Cadbury Schweppes) in Russia.


Mr. Sobel graduated from Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) with honors and received a BA in Business Administration as well as an MBA from the University of Western Ontario (Canada). The chief executive officer of Wimm-Bill-Dann, Tony Maher, commented: “Baby Food is becoming a substantial part of our revenue, alongside dairy products and beverages. We believe that the market for Baby Food will develop rapidly, expanding into new product niches and new regions. We have already managed to make Agusha the best-known baby food brand in the country. I believe that Gary, with his international experience and knowledge of the market, can accelerate the development of Baby Food and lead to a new level”.


Mr. Sobel added: “I am very excited to join Wimm-Bill-Dann as the Head of Baby Food business. Baby Food is a fast growing and highly profitable business and Agusha has a strong and well-deserved reputation for quality in the marketplace. I am very confident that Baby Food is well positioned to be a driver of Wimm-Bill-Dann's profitable growth, and I am honored to be leading this business”.