Perfetti Van Melle Promotes Former Hershey Exec Sylvia Buxton to CEO

Perfetti Van Melle North America has promoted its vice president of marketing to lead the company.

Sylvia Buxton will become the confectioner’s president and CEO effective Aug. 17. She succeeds Mehmet Yuksek, who is stepping down after 21 years with the company.

Before joining Perfetti Van Melle in 2012, Buxton worked as senior marketing director of Hershey’s chocolate brands in Canada, Latin America and World Travel Retail. She was also senior global brand director for Brookside and served in other various marketing roles at Hershey since 1991.

Talent strategy and executive search firm Centennial conducted the search that brought Buxton to Perfetti Van Melle in 2016. 

“[Butxon’s] experience-fueled energy and enthusiasm for innovation will not only enhance Perfetti's corporate culture, but their industry momentum as well,” Centennial president Mike Sipple Jr. said in a media release at the time.

Perfetti Van Melle is a member of the Path to Purchase Institute.