Chairman's Award 2019

Barry Callebaut Chairmans Award 2019 Group Picture

Chairman's Award 2019

Back in 1995, Barry Callebaut's founding father, Klaus Jacobs, initiated the Chairman's Award: Every year, we honor colleagues from all over the globe for their outstanding work performance and strong social commitment in their local communities. Recipients of the annual award are individuals who embody the Barry Callebaut values of customer focus, passion, entrepreneurship, team spirit and integrity. This year's 13 winners received their awards from our Chairman, Patrick de Maeseneire, and CEO, Antoine de Saint-Affrique, on August 29, 2019, in Zurich.

Congratulations to the winners!

  • Ms. Jacqueline Rosch - Zurich/Switzerland
  • Mr. Giuseppe (Pino) Spadano - San Vito Chietino/Italy
  • Mr. Peter Martini - Mjölby/Sweden
  • Mrs. Therese Bourgeois - Saint-Hyacinthe/Canada
  • Mr. Pol Font - Gurb/Spain
  • Mrs. Camilla Braga - Itabuna – Bahia/Brazilian
  • Mr. Dirk Tas - Wieze/Belgium
  • Mrs. Lien Callebaut - Wieze/Belgium
  • Mrs. Lieve Annaert - Wieze/Belgium
  • Mrs. Brittany Gagliano - Chicago/USA
  • Mrs. Chiew Phing Phuar - Port Klang/ Malaysia
  • Mrs. Sandra Koch - Dunmore/USA
  • Mr. Stephane Barbosa - Abidjan, COTE D'IVOIRE
Jacqueline Rosch - Chairmans Award

Ms. Jacqueline Rosch
Management Assistant
Zurich/Switzerland

Jacqueline's passion and commitment to the company and her colleagues are extraordinary. Her positive attitude shines over all the tasks that she undertakes, and she is the heart and the engine of the team. One of her team members is fighting with cancer, and Jacqueline helps him and his family in her free time and provides great support.

Mindful of her roots in Nicaragua, Jacqueline has done a lot of good for her family and others there, by building a poultry farm in her childhood town to give her family an income. She rents out the house she inherited from her mother, to provide shelter for women and children. She is also the founder and the organizer of the Spanish Speaking Club at Barry Callebaut and she designed and successfully applied a new joiner onboarding plan for the benefit and quick integration of our recruits which has been taken on as a model to be replicated. 

Giuseppe (Pino) Spadano - Chairmans Award

Mr. Giuseppe (Pino) Spadano
Finance/Treasury
San Vito Chietino/Italy

Dealing with treasury and finance management and control, Pino has worked for the company for four years. As well as making sure that there are enough funds to meet operational requirements and maintaining banking relationships, he also maintains and operates a system of policies and procedures that guarantee control over treasury activities. 

Pino became a scout when he was around ten years old, and now, he’s a Chief Scout linked to the Italian Agesci Association.  He organized a theatrical performance in prison performed by scouts and disabled people and participates in the organization of an annual sports competition in prison. Pino also collaborates with ANFFAS (an Association that deals with disabled people). He arranges cognitive meetings with the guests of a reception center for migrants, collects food for needy families, and promotes donation activities for the association ADOS (blood donor association).

Peter Martini - Chairman Award

Mr. Peter Martini
CI Specialist
Mjölby/Sweden

Peter has been working with Barry Callebaut for more than ten years.  Three years ago, he was handpicked by his plant manager to move to a position in continuous improvement. Since then, he has played a pivotal role in the general improvement work and the operations management team. 

However, his strong desire to help others is not only limited to his colleagues and friends. Peter is also committed to helping the community he lives in. Every Christmas he collects food and gifts for homeless and elderly people in need. He also rents premises at the local soccer club where people in need are welcome to spend Christmas Eve together and makes use of social media to collect as much food and gifts as possible, to make this time of the year unforgettable for them. Peter has a special eye for people needing a helping hand and coaching in their personal life. He shares his reflections on Facebook, where he tries to inspire and help his many followers.

Therese Bourgeois - Chairman Award

Mrs. Therese Bourgeois
R&D Sample Shipment Attendant
Saint-Hyacinthe/Canada

Therese is always at work 30 minutes before her normal required starting time and ready to work. We can reach out to her at any moment of the day (even out of her normal working hours and weekends) to resolve issues with the shipments. She is always available and goes beyond her duties to help her team. She always has new ideas to reduce our costs or improve our way of working and is truly dedicated to her job and her team.

Therese is a volunteer at church and holds crafting activities with the children to educate them about God. She volunteers at the church library, takes care of storing books, takes reservations, and helps with meal preparations for the church's fund-raising activities during the year. She joined a group who crochet and knit little octopuses which are then distributed to hospitals to comfort premature babies, knits baby blankets for newborns in the R&D department and makes strawberry jam for her colleagues.

Pol Font - Chairman Award

Mr. Pol Font
Liquid Operator
Gurb/Spain

Pol is one of the most successful liquid operators at the Gurb plant in Spain, and his team spirit and passion are recognized by his colleagues.  During his assignment, he was not only involved in every step of the fabrication, but he also made positive changes and new implementations. Pol’s direct managers say that he is a great example of team spirit and passion – two of Barry Callebaut’s core values.

He is the Christmas dinner presenter together with some other colleagues and makes sure that all employees have a great time with laughs and good vibes. In addition to this, Pol also has great community involvement. Every year, together with some friends, Pol collaborates with a community in Africa. Last year he managed to buy a bus and took it to Madagascar. The bus was donated to a school, so that kids living far away could reach their school more easily and two years ago, Pol and his soccer club built a library in Cameroon. 

Camilla Braga - Chairman Award

Mrs. Camilla Braga
Customer Service Analyst
Itabuna – Bahia/Brazilian

Camilla stands out in the company for her passion and teamwork.  In 2017 she joined the One Plus project for the improvement of cocoa mass quality in the Itabuna plant. Camilla also participates in many social activities which far exceeds any of her colleagues as well as being a member of Seeds for Change. 

She taught English classes for rural children between the ages of six and ten in a partnership between the ACE English course and the Virginia Mars Municipal School. In 2015 she participated in a project known worldwide as ‘The Street Store’ which is a project that organizes free stores in an open space and donates clothes and shoes to needy and street people, treating them as if they were customers. In 2017 Camilla joined a group called ‘To Help’. She says: "In February we usually have carnival here in Brazil. It's a very joyful and festive time, so this year we decided to visit a rest home for elderly people, and we took carnival songs to entertain them.” 

Camilla believes that no matter what age you are, what place you're in, what your limitations are if you bring joy and happiness in your heart you can do everything and spread this feeling wherever you go to people around you.

Dirk Tas - Chairman Award

Mr. Dirk Tas
Transport planner Liquid
Wieze/Belgium

As a transport planner, Dirk has built up innovative expertise throughout his career to minimize the flushing of our tankers. This optimization avoids loss of product, energy, and time. 

Dirk has been a volunteer at Natuurpunt for many years, an independent association that provides protection for vulnerable and threatened nature in Flanders. He ensures that the meadows are mown or grazed at the appropriate time with a view to more biodiversity. He facilitates the creation of new forest plots with native trees and shrubs, pollards willows, digs pools for frogs and salamanders, has set up beekeeping with a beekeeper, guided mushroom transfer, and works with farmers and landowners. 

He has put much effort into the development of the walking route ‘From Market to Market’, which connects the cities of Aalst and Dendermonde via nature areas and slow roads. Barry Callebaut also participates in this initiative and has sponsored a seat bench on the route. 

Lien Callebaut - Chairman Award

Mrs. Lien Callebaut
Manager Finance BP OSCO, EMEA North
Wieze/Belgium

Lien always goes above and beyond what is required and she displays a significant level of passion in her work. She is not afraid to step out of her comfort zone, always willing to help, teach, guide, and coach others. No matter how heavy her workload is, she always helps other team members. 

For six years, Lien has been a volunteer firefighter in Moorsel. She is the only female firefighter who is active in her region and recently passed her exams (both written and physical tests) to move up into a leadership role. She can now be promoted to Corporal and will continue in the leadership program - the next level is Sergeant. Recently, she helped to extinguish a fire in a house in Aalst. It took a full day to put out the fire. Unfortunately, the family lost everything, but everyone was safe. On top of that she is taking courses for a C level driver’s license, which in Belgium will allow her to drive big trucks. She is also now training to learn what to do during terror attacks.

Lieve Annaert - Chairman Awards

Mrs. Lieve Annaert
Chocolate Academy Assistant
Wieze/Belgium

For more than 25 years Lieve was a part of the local HR department in Wieze, and many colleagues can confirm that she is an important link in our organization. She is well known as the Wikipedia of HR, and all the Barry Callebaut events like receptions and parties are always in good hands. On April 1st Lieve moved to her new role as assistant in the chocolate academy where she organizes events for our customers. 

Lieve is a real event minded person, and she helps in her mother’s retirement community organizing events to bring smiles and fun to these elderly people. Helping in this environment is very important as without volunteers, none of these events could take place. She also helps her daughter, who is responsible for many little children as head of the youth movement, behind the scenes and is always ready to lend a hand. She is the face that opens and closes the doors of every event in Wieze, and so is one of the most familiar people in the building.

Brittany Gagliano - Chairman Award

Mrs. Brittany Gagliano
Pricing Analyst
Chicago/USA

Brittany’s passion is evident in the way she goes above and beyond within everything she does. Her bright personality and constant acts of kindness have an immeasurable impact on the mood of the office. She is a driving force in fostering an inclusive office environment through her participation in various office committees. 

In her personal life, Brittany is a mentor and very active volunteer for the After School Matters (ASM) program, a Chicago area non-profit organization. ASM creates opportunities for at-risk youth to grow their skills for the future. She is a key contributor to their success, and her volunteer work with them is a great example of her commitment. This year she is running the Chicago Marathon to raise money for ASM. She also donates her time to Habitat for Humanity, a charity committed to building homes and providing shelter and resources for the less fortunate. 

Mrs. Chiew Phing Phuah - Chairman Award

Mrs. Chiew Phing Phuar
Customer Service Cocoa Manager
Port Klang/ Malaysia

In her role as a Customer Service Cocoa Manager, Chiew Phing delivered an excellent service level to the Key Corporate Account by achieving a substantial cost reduction for airfreight adopting Barry Callebaut’s Customer Care model. She was also involved in a project where she helped to implement an e-invoicing system to allow a timelier payment collection. Furthermore, Chiew assisted the implementation of the Customer Care Model at our production site PCI Bandung, which aimed to improve the overall customer satisfaction level. 

In addition to this, Chiew Phing is a part of two Committees here at Barry Callebaut - the Committee for Water for Life and also the Committee in charge of organizing the annual dinners.  In her spare time, Chiew Phing is an active volunteer at Tzu Chi, which is a non-governmental organization where she holds the position of Education Volunteer lead. She helped to distribute seeds and collected funds and resources for the farmers in Myanmar after the flood disaster in 2018 and was a volunteer helping to rebuild the lives of flood victims in East Malaysia.

Mrs. Sandra Koch - Chairman Award

Mrs. Sandra Koch
Coordinator Sourcing
Dunmore/USA

Sandy was a dedicated employee at Gertrude Hawk Ingredients for 40 years and has been at Barry Callebaut USA since 2017 when the business was acquired by Barry Callebaut. She coordinates the purchasing function for both raw materials, packaging, and indirect spend for the Dunmore plant. Sandy is the face and voice for our suppliers and has created a great working relationship with them that has resulted in the overall success of our company. With her 40 plus years of service, the wisdom and knowledge that she holds are critical, making her one of our key employees. She understands purchasing requirements and the fundamental of key commodity markets we use, always delivering the best supplier options and prices available. 

When Sandy is not at work, she is very involved in school events and fundraisers for her 11 grandchildren. She is very active with Abilities 21 a non-profit organization supporting kids with Down-Syndrome. This organization is very close to Sandy as Down-Syndrome affects one of her grandchildren. With Abilities 21 she helps every year with the Buddy Walk event and organizes monthly and seasonal events, parties, and dances as well as being involved with fundraising to assist with the children’s needs.

Mr. Stephane Barbosa - Chairman Award

Mr. Stephane Barbosa
Purchasing Manager Indirect spend
Abidjan, COTE D'IVOIRE

When he began working at Barry Callebaut, Stephane took over the department in charge of importing goods into the country with a mission to restructure the department and build a new importation strategy. He implemented new processes and procedures, which all resulted in efficiency and savings, and in 2016, Stephane was promoted to Purchasing Manager Indirect Spend where he works to implement the Global Barry Callebaut processes. He also initiated the audit of the requisition to payment flow to correct and improve the process from requisition creation to vendor payment. 

Stephane is the fundraising lead of Mon Refuge a social community center of FEEDME which supports and empowers underprivileged people in the Transformation Center for Capacity Building in Abidjan with the charity providing healthcare, dormitories, a library and professional integration services for the community. He is also an advisory board member of Hebron Ivoire which runs 25 plus community development programs and is a youth, profession, and entrepreneurship community lead providing workshops, training, and masterclasses to provide skills and develop professionalism amongst his students.

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