Mars ANZ has appointed Rita McComb and Mitch Maiers to senior commercial and category roles to strengthen retailer partnerships and support growth in its pet food business.
McComb has joined the company as channel development director, corporate grocery, bringing more than 15 years’ FMCG experience with Procter & Gamble.
During her time at P&G, McComb held senior sales leadership roles across Coles, independent grocery, pharmacy and electrical channels. At Mars, she will work with the company’s major grocery customers to develop long-term channel growth strategies, strengthen category leadership and improve operational execution.
Maiers has been appointed strategy and category operations director, Pet Nutrition ANZ, transferring from Mars Pet Nutrition North America, where he was most recently category director for Walmart.
His experience covers category strategy, consumer insights, digital acceleration and customer development. In the new role, Maiers will lead Mars Pet Nutrition’s category growth strategy across physical and online retail channels.
Mars Petcare ANZ, managing director and general manager, Melodie Nye said the appointments added commercial and category capability as the pet nutrition business entered its next stage of growth.
“Rita and Mitch bring exceptional capability and a customer first mindset which will be instrumental in helping us create greater value for our partners and the pet parents we serve,” Nye said.
“Their leadership strengthens our ability to partner closely with retailers and reinforces our ambition to lead the petfood category by responding to the changing needs of pet parents with real, insight-led value.”
