Oak Brook, Ill./Press Release -- Magomet Malsagov, CEO of PureCircle, a producer and marketer of stevia products, announced the appointment of Jordi Ferre to the newly established position of chief operating officer for the company. In this role, Ferre reports to CEO Malsagov and will be driving the optimization and management of the company’s global operations. This covers everything from leaf sourcing to manufacturing and commercial endeavors.

“Having Jordi in this role will strengthen the corporate team as we align ourselves for further global growth,” said Malsagov. “It has always been our vision for stevia to become a mainstream sweetener for food and beverage products around the world. To achieve this vision, we need a consistent and ample leaf supply, the infrastructure to produce and deliver natural sweeteners and flavors, and excellent customer service. This will ensure our naturally-sourced stevia is readily available to the market. We believe stevia will help transform “regular” products, giving them a new, lower caloric norm.”

Ferre brings more than 20 years international experience in the food and beverage industry to his new position, including since 2008 leadership of the PureCircle Commercial Division, based in the United States. He was instrumental in building and shaping the division, beginning with the launch of Reb A into the U.S., and accompanied by the expansion and establishment of a global organization, which evolved into a solutions selling provider.

“For the past five years, we’ve been working on improving stevia economics, taste and supply chain scalability and sustainability to make mainstreaming stevia a reality,” commented Ferre. “Today, we can say that the results of all this hard work are starting to pay off, and we are entering a future with exponential growth and full adoption of products sweetened with stevia.” Beginning in July, Ferre will be based at PureCircle’s global headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Jason Hecker, vice president of Global Marketing & Innovation, will replace Ferre as pPresident of the Commercial Division in Oak Brook, Ill., and will continue to report to him in his new role. Hecker assumes responsibility for PureCircle’s worldwide sales and marketing activities, including leadership across the company’s regional offices in Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, the United Kingdom, Mexico City and the United States.  Over the past five years, Hecker worked closely with Ferre, guiding the company’s marketing and innovation initiatives, which included establishing the Global Stevia Institute, fielding proprietary consumer research on stevia, forging global joint ventures and championing innovation as the company introduced its Stevia 3.0 platform.