Dive Brief:
- Ben and Jerry’s announced Wednesday it has appointed three new members to its board in a bid to restructure its governing panel. The appointments follow a prolonged governance dispute with parent company Unilever and spinoff Magnum Ice Cream.
- The ice cream maker named Nora Benavidez, Michael McAfee and Eva Schulte as independent directors, effective this month. The new appointees collectively bring decades of experience in environmental and social justice, civil rights, economic equity and free speech.
- Ben & Jerry’s said the new directors will “draw on that experience to challenge and inspire the company” as it works to boost its three-part mission of balancing product quality, financial growth and social impact.
Dive Insight:
Ben & Jerry’s has a unique governance structure that is designed to protect its long-term social mission and ensure that mission remains a priority as the company evolves over time.
Founded in 1978 as a small ice cream scoop shop in Burlington, Vermont, the company operated as an independent enterprise until it was acquired by British consumer goods giant Unilever in 2000. Last year, Unilever spun out its ice cream business into a separate company called The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which now owns Ben & Jerry’s, Klondike, Talenti and its namesake Magnum.
In recent years, Ben & Jerry’s has clashed with Unilever and Magnum over political censorship and publicly accused its parent companies of stifling its social activism.
The ice cream brand previously said Unilever attempted to suppress its criticism of President Donald Trump and tried to block it from making public statements advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza. The companies also disagreed last year on whether Unilever fired Ben & Jerry’s CEO over his support for the brand’s social mission.
Ben & Jerry’s said in an August 26 press release that its new board appointments will “strengthen [its] governance model for the future” and “safeguard the social mission and integrity of the brand, while bringing expertise, outside perspective, constructive challenge and connections to the movements and communities the company serves.”
Benavidez is a civil and human rights attorney, litigator and legal expert and currently serves as the senior counsel and director at Free Press, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic and social organization that advocates for fair and diverse media and technology policies in the United States. She has held the position since August 2021, and leads the organization’s democracy and tech initiatives, according to her LinkedIn profile. Benavidez also serves as a board member and legislative co-chair at the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. Her work experience also includes stints as a trust and safety consultant at social media platform TikTok and a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.
McAfee is the chief executive officer of PolicyLink, a national research and action institute in the United States that advocates for economic and social equity. At PolicyLink, he has built on the institute’s work on corporate racial equity, including developing tools to help companies evaluate and advance equity across their supply chains. He previously worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for nearly 12 years, overseeing policy and program development, grants management, compliance and oversight, and stakeholder engagement, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Schulte, who rounds out the trio of new directors, is an environmental and economic expert who is currently the executive director at Friends of the San Juans. Friends of the San Juans is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization focused on protecting and restoring the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea. Schulte also serves as the treasurer on the board of the Sierra Club Foundation, the charitable arm of the environmental organization. She also held the position of the foundation’s chair until last month, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The three appointees join Michiel Kruyt and Ben & Jerry’s CEO Jochanan Senf to make up the ice cream company’s independent board of directors.
“We're proving a way of doing business where our growth and strength connect directly to social impact, all whilst making delicious ice cream,” Senf said in the release. “These Directors understand that and will help us make it even more future-proof."
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional background information on Ben & Jerry’s new board members.
