Ahold Delhaize has hired Natalie Knight as executive vice president of finance for Ahold Delhaize and member of the executive committee, effective March 1. Knight will be nominated by the supervisory board to be appointed as chief financial officer and a member of the management board at the annual general meeting of shareholders in April 2020, officially succeeding Jeff Carr, who will leave Ahold Delhaize when his current term expires in April 2020.
Knight joins Ahold Delhaize from Arla Foods, a global dairy company based in Denmark, where she most recently has served as chief financial officer. In this role, she was instrumental in the company’s transformation and efficiency program, called Calcium, which meaningfully lowered the company’s cost basis. In addition, Knight led the company’s digital strategy process and has driven significant cash generation and working capital improvements. She is a finance leader who puts particular focus on commercial and cross-functional performance management and has helped Arla make substantial progress in the area of sustainability finance.
Prior to joining Arla Foods, Knight worked 17 years at Adidas, a global sportswear manufacturer, serving in several financial roles. She then served as CFO of Adidas North America, where she led major cross-functional cost reductions and operational transformation efforts, returning the company to record profitability following the financial crisis of 2008-09. Natalie’s last role with adidas was as senior vice president of group functions finance, leading a finance team in strategic and financial support.
Knight is an American by nationality and holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Berlin, Germany and a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona.