Boris Bourdin

Background

About Boris Bourdin

Boris is a member of the Executive Committee at Savencia Fromage and Dairy responsible for Europe. Before that, he spent 25 years at Danone and L’Oréal in 8 different countries in various Executive roles. Curious, creative and resilient, he delivers results by leveraging diversity and empowering teams. Born and raised in France, Boris started his career in 1991 as the first Sales Rep and Product Manager for L’Oréal in Russia. He launched Elseve shampoo before continuing his marketing career at L’Oréal in Paris. Four years later, Boris returned to Russia as VP Marketing of what had by then grown to a €150M revenue business. In he took up the position of General Manager Consumer Division L’Oréal New Zealand where, in just four years, he doubled the business and helped L’Oréal became #1 in each of its target segments. In 2003, Boris joined Danone in the Czech Republic as Marketing Director for the Snacks Division. He modernized the portfolio of brands away from traditional, post-communist offerings, whilst preserving a “Czech touch". In 2006, he was appointed CEO for Danone Snacks in Hungary. He boosted top line revenues through innovation and increased profitability by rationalizing and modernizing operations. In 2009, Boris became CEO of Kraft Biscuits Italy, acquired by Mondelez. This was a €200M business where Boris oversaw Kraft’s integration into the Mondelez group whilst delivering volume and value growth during the subprime period. He spent six years in the formula category at Danone. In Indonesia, Boris grew revenues from €200M to €350M, gaining a leadership position both in volume and value and growing the next generation of company leaders. In China, he managed a soft landing after two severe crises saw the business shrink from €750M to €150M in annual turnover. In 2015, Boris became CEO of La Serinisima in Argentina, the fresh dairy business of Danone. In two years, he developed and executed a new strategic plan, renewed the leadership team and improved profitability of the €750M business. In 2017, Boris returned to France for family reasons, where for 18 months he led the turnaround plan of a €500M farming cooperative with high debt and low profitability. In 2019, he was appointed "European Beachheads Advisor" by New Zealand Trade Entreprise. In 2020, he joined Savencia as member of the Executive Committee in charge of Central and Eastern Europe. Since january 2025, he is in charge of total Europe. Five times Ironman Finisher, Boris is the holder of the World Speed Record sailing between Taiwan to Hong Kong.