Poul Weihrauch holds the offices of CEO and President and serves on the Board of Directors for Mars, Incorporated. He has more than 20 years with the company, which today operates in 80 countries, has more than 140,000 Associates and revenues of over $45 billion.
Poul is known for his commitment to Associates and merging purpose, sustainability and strategy to drive growth, performance and positive impact.
He was President of Mars Petcare 2014-2022, leading the evolution from its origins in pet nutrition into a true pet care company, making Mars the world’s largest provider of veterinary services and doubling the size of the business. Poul has led our Petcare business to improve the wellbeing of pets while driving focus and investment on sustaniability. He has served on the Mars Leadership Team since 2011, role modeling the company’s Five Principles and helping advance it’s purpose; The world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.
Throughout his time at Mars, Poul has worked across all segments of the business, beginning in 2000 in Slough, England, as European brand leader for SNICKERS®. In 2003, he became General Manager of the Mars sugar confectionery business in Europe, followed by promotion to lead the Mars Food business in the region. At the close of Mars’ acquisition of Wrigley in 2008, Poul assumed accountability for Wrigley Europe, serving as part of the Global Wrigley Leadership Team. His last role before joining Petcare was as President of Mars Food, Drinks and Multisales from 2011-2014.
Before joining Mars, Poul worked for Nestlé in various sales and marketing positions in the Nordics and Belgium, as well as confectionery for Africa, Oceania and Asia regions while based in Vevey, Switzerland.
He started his career with Stimorol Chewing Gum in his native Denmark, and has since lived and worked in six countries.
Poul is a member of the foundation board for the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) business school and a supervisory board member of Henkel AG & Co in Germany.
He holds an MBA from the University of Aalborg, Denmark, and studied for his Master of Science degree in international marketing at Strathclyde in Scotland. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Aalborg with a Bachelor of Science in business economics.
An avid runner, Poul does some of his best thinking while pounding the pavement. Pets, particularly his beloved family dogs Twixie and Eddie, and football (or soccer!) are among his other passions.