Crist|Kolder Places CFO at Mondelēz International

July 1, 2026 – Crist|Kolder Associates has placed Amit Banati as executive vice president and chief financial officer of NASDAQ-traded Mondelēz International in Chicago. He will report directly to Dirk Van de Put, chair and CEO, and will be a member of the Mondelēz International leadership team. “Amit is a highly experienced CFO who brings a strong blend of financial leadership and commercial acumen spanning multiple consumer businesses,” Mr. Van de Put said. “His track record of delivering results and building talent across large, global businesses as a CFO, alongside his breadth of general management and emerging market experience, will provide important perspective to our leadership team. I look forward to working with him to deliver against our strategic growth agenda.”

Mr. Banati most recently served as CFO of Kenvue, Inc. Prior to that, he served as vice chair and CFO of Kellanova, formerly Kellogg Company. He began his career at Kellogg as president for the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, where he drove regional growth and transformation before being promoted to senior vice president and CFO. Prior to Kellogg, he held progressively responsible management, financial and strategic leadership roles at Proctor & Gamble, Cadbury Schweppes and Mondelēz predecessor company Kraft Foods following the Cadbury acquisition.

“I am delighted to rejoin Mondelēz International,” said Mr. Banati. “I am excited to return to a company and set of brands that I know well. The company has an iconic portfolio, an advantaged global footprint and a talented team. I look forward to working closely with Dirk and the entire team to advance the company’s strategy, achieve its significant growth potential and continue its strong track record of profitable growth.”

Mondelēz International is a global snack food company, with operations in more than 150 countries. Formed in 2012 following the split of Kraft Foods Inc., the company manufactures, markets, and distributes a broad portfolio of brands across categories including biscuits, chocolate, gum, candy, beverages, and baked snacks. Its portfolio includes well-known brands such as Oreo, Ritz, Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone, Triscuit, Chips Ahoy!, Wheat Thins, Halls, and Sour Patch Kids.

Crist|Kolder Associates focuses on CEO, CFO, COO, board of directors and succession search for a broad range of industries. The firm has filled line management and board positions for more than 100 clients relying on what it calls “the intellectual capital” of its senior partners and professional team. Given the strength of the firm’s CFO practice, Crist|Kolder has also established a strong position in finance #2 searches, including treasurers, controllers, group CFOs, IROs, CAEs and others.

The Expanding CFO Mandate

As business complexity increases across industries, the office of the CFO is experiencing a significant transformation. Traditionally focused on financial stewardship, today’s CFO organizations are evolving into enterprise-wide strategic drivers—supporting growth, overseeing risk, enabling transformation, and acting as key partners to the CEO and board. With the CFO role increasingly viewed as a pathway to the CEO position, the structure, capabilities, and leadership within the finance function are being reshaped. This shift has important implications for how organizations design their finance teams, cultivate future leaders, and attract the next generation of CFO talent.

Clem Johnson, president of Crist|Kolder Associates, recently sat down with Hunt Scanlon Media to discuss how the CFO role has evolved from a traditional finance function into a central driver of strategy, transformation, and value creation across today’s organizations.

Crist|Kolder Associates Recruits CFO for Booz Allen

Crist|Kolder Associates has assisted in the recruitment of Troy Lahr as executive vice president and CFO of Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean, VA. “Troy’s deep and differentiated experience helps position Booz Allen for accelerated growth and bold transformation,” said Horacio Rozanski, chairman and CEO. “His success driving performance across large portfolios and leading through change will be a powerful asset as we work together to advance our next chapter.” Mr. Lahr was most recently CFO at Sierra Space, where he led the company’s financial strategy and performance including accounting and reporting, controllership, financial planning and analysis, tax, and treasury.

“I think the best CFOs share three traits that allow them to be successful regardless of ownership structure,” Mr. Johnson said. “The first is contextual adaptability. They understand what matters when. PE rewards speed, focus, and cash discipline. Public markets reward consistency, narrative, and credibility that comes through executing reliably on the longer-term vision. As we said earlier, great CFOs are incredibly well-rounded and are the central nervous system of most organizations. As such, they can adapt as challenges arise without losing authenticity, which engenders trust in the investment thesis, whether it’s with private equity sponsors or institutional investors.”

“The second is the ability to separate signal from noise,” Mr. Johnson. “CFOs are inundated with data. The ability to cut through all of the static to find the most reliable source of truth is essential. A necessary corollary to this is the discernment to execute with imperfect or incomplete information.”

“The third is narrative fluency,” Mr. Johnson continued. “They can tell a coherent story about where they are on the value creation path, strategic trade-offs, and long-term direction, even when things go sideways in a given quarter or the data is imperfect. This combination is surprisingly rare and incredibly valuable. CFOs who possess these traits also maximize career optionality – great talent flows from PE to public and back again.”

To read the full interview, click here!

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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