Nudie CEO James Ajaka is leaving the juice company he helped shape six months after it was bought by Monde Nissin.
Ajaka will step down from the helm of nudie, which has become a major player in its category in just over a decade, at the end of this month.
Nudie's GM of sales and brand Richard Glenn and GM of operations Warren Douglas will head the business, reporting to Monde Nissin Australia CEO Chris O’Sullivan.
Monde Nissin Australia, the local arm of a Philippines-based company, bought Nudie in February.
At the time, Ajaka, who had led the business for six years, said: “The Nudie team will remain in place (including me) and we remain committed to all our staff, consumers, customers and suppliers including our Australian farmers who provide over 93 per cent of our fruit.”
In an email this week, Ajaka said: “As you may know I have been with nudie since the very beginning (January 2003) and for the past six years have been in the role of Chief nudie.
“It has been an amazing journey and one that I am personally very proud of; from launching the brand from scratch to becoming a leading beverage brand in Australia and more recently successfully selling the business to a great group of people (Monde Nissin).”
Ajaka also said he wanted to especially thank the team at nudie, both past and present.
“They are a fun, smart and hard working team of people that I find truly inspirational. We have had a great time together whilst never wavering in focus, this has allowed us to climb some enormous mountains and create a brand, business and set of products that we are all very proud of.
