ZRG Recruits CEO for Wise Snacks

A bi-cultural and bi-lingual leader, Milton Mattus brings a strong financial and business administrative background to his new role. Joining the company from Barcel USA, he has record of delivering growth through visionary strategic planning, discipline in execution and realization of productivity initiatives. ZRG’s Eduardo “Ted” Latham led the search.

August 4, 2021 – Eduardo “Ted” Latham of ZRG recently placed Milton Mattus as chief executive officer of Wise Snacks (an Arca Continental company). He started his new role on July 19. Mr. Mattus’ background and international experience proved to be the right fit for the position.

Mr. Mattus is a bi-cultural and bi-lingual leader with a strong financial and business administrative background. He has record of delivering top- and bottom-line growth by providing visionary strategic planning, discipline in execution and realization of productivity initiatives. Extensive marketing and sales proven experience in both Mexico and the U.S. primarily in the bread, tortilla, snacks, confectionary industries.

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Mr. Mattus was previously executive vice president of Barcel USA. Prior to this, he spent six years with Bimbo Bakeries USA, most recently serving as director of sales. Before that he was a brand manager with the company. He has over 15 years of experience with the following skills:

Oriented on delivering results through team developing.
Strong leadership and decision-making skills.
Qualified educational background and proven technical experience in marketing and sales strategy.
Holistic view of the business with experience as executive VP / general manager.
Extremely adaptable to new environments and proficient when facing challenges.
Passionate and strong-minded.

Arca Continental produces, distributes and sells beverages under the Coca-Cola Co. brand, as well as snacks under the brands of Bokados in Mexico, Inalecsa in Ecuador and Wise and Deep River in the U.S. With a history spanning more than 95 years, Arca Continental is the second-largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America, and one of the largest in the world. Through its Coca-Cola franchise, the company serves more than 123 million people in the northern and western regions in Mexico, as well as in Ecuador, Peru, in the Northern region of Argentina and in the Southwestern U.S. Arca Continental is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker “AC.”

ZRG, founded in 1999, is a progressive mid-sized global executive search firm and one of the fastest growing in the search industry. It provides a full suite of executive, middle-management, and customized search solutions through its offices in North America, Europe, South America and Asia. The firm finds leaders across a broad spectrum of business markets, including aerospace, consumer, education, healthcare services and solutions, industrial, life sciences, non-profit, private equity and venture capital, and technology.

Mr. Latham is a managing director for ZRG’s Miami office and member of the firm’s global consumer/retail and industrial practices. He serves as ZRG’s primary liaison for clients with Latin American operations based in the U.S. He has led numerous Latin American regional leadership assignments for large multinational clients operating in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile. His domestic and international assignments have spanned a wide variety of functions. Mr. Latham has placed presidents, chief executive officers, chief operating officers, chief financial officers and senior executives in general management, sales and marketing, and human resources.

A Fast-Growing Firm

In June, ZRG acquired Sucherman Group, a media and entertainment focused executive search firm. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founder Stuart Sucherman and CEO Erik Sorenson, both former media executives, will continue to lead the organization. “We are thrilled to add the premier team in the media space to the ZRG family,” said Mr. Hartmann. “They have built an incredible team and are content sector experts who bring clear value to every engagement. With our recent acquisition of Turnkey Sports, the boutique leader in the sports sector, adding the No. 1 boutique in media and entertainment broadens our market expertise and provides strong access to crossover talent in both areas.”

The combination provides both organizations with access to new industries and products. Sucherman will adopt ZRG’s tech-enabled, data-driven approach to search — including its proprietary collaborative Zi platform and Z Score — enhancing the customized, hands-on approach for which the Sucherman team is known. Mr. Sorenson, a former president of MSNBC and former executive producer of the CBS Evening News, said: “Companies are navigating an increasingly complex environment in which people, culture and organizational design are more critical than ever to achieving business goals and managing business risk,” he said. “We are delighted to join with them to accelerate our collective growth in the media/entertainment space and beyond.”

Earlier this year, ZRG made a major move into the sports, entertainment and media sectors by acquiring Turnkey Search. Renamed TurnkeyZRG, all Turnkey staff and assets have now merged into ZRG and the firm continues to be led by Len Perna, the founder, chairman, and CEO of the sports recruiting franchise. Turnkey is adopting ZRG’s tech-enabled, data-driven approach to the search process which it says will give the newly merged firm a competitive edge in the hunt for sports, media and entertainment talent. Larry Hartmann, CEO of ZRG, called the deal a “blockbuster acquisition.”

Hunt Scanlon Ventures facilitated the introduction and transaction between ZRG and Turnkey, two perennial leaders in Hunt Scanlon’s rankings of executive search firms. “Len Perna built Turnkey into the most formidable sports recruiting brand in the nation,” said CEO Scott A. Scanlon. “This combination allows ZRG to deliver its ‘Moneyball’ approach to sports and entertainment, using a proprietary Z Score ‘scorecard’ to leverage data and analytics into better hiring decisions,” he said. “Unlocking hidden value in talent and skills makes this the ultimate Moneyball team. It is a game-changer in sports and entertainment recruiting,” Mr. Scanlon noted.

Related: ZRG Acquires Walking the Talk

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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