Dipak Golechha will become CFO at Chobani

The appointment of Mr. Golechha is the latest in a string of executive appointments at the New Berlin, N.Y.-based company. In July, for example, Chobani hired David Denholm, formerly in charge of Kellogg's main breakfast division, as COO, and Peter McGuinness, most recently head of advertising firm DDB Worldwide Communications Group's Chicago office and the former CEO at Gotham, as its chief marketing and brand officer.

 

“I needed to build a team” after years of rapid growth have turned Chobani into the country’s top Greek-style yogurt producer, said Chief Executive Hamdi Ulukaya. He said taking the company he founded in 2005 public is an option for the future, but no decision has been made; he noted that the company never needed outside funding, so he faces no external pressures from investors to file for an initial public offering.

 

“It took me only one meeting to know [that Mr. Golechha was the top candidate],” Mr. Ulukaya said. The recruiting process began in earnest in August, he said. “[It was] definitely a difficult decision,” said Mr. Golechha, given nearly two decades at the consumer-products company. “I’m definitely not running away from P&G,” he said. Instead he wanted to pursue the opportunity to be part of Chobani’s quickly growing business.

 

While he said he will need to start work before he can discuss his immediate plans for Chobani’s finance team, Mr. Golechha said that “the first order, and the constant order, is value creation.”