Mars Snacking Names João Belo Global VP Corporate Affairs

The Appointment

Mars, Incorporated is adding seasoned communications executive João Belo to its snacking leadership bench, naming him Global Vice President, Corporate Affairs for Mars Snacking, effective January 4, 2027. Belo will report directly to Andrew Clarke, Global President of Mars Snacking, and will hold seats on both the Mars Snacking Leadership Team and the company's global Corporate Affairs Leadership Team.

The hire lands at a consequential moment for the family-owned company. Mars completed its acquisition of Kellanova in 2025, folding in a sweeping set of retail and foodservice brands — Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, and RXBAR among them — that pushed combined net sales to roughly $65 billion. Belo's mandate centers on consolidating the reputational and stakeholder infrastructure around that enlarged portfolio, which also includes M&M'S, Snickers, Skittles, Extra, and Kind.

Background and Expertise

Belo arrives from Danaher Corporation, where he served as Chief Communications Officer and led global communications, philanthropy, and community impact programs while also driving generative AI integration into communications workflows. Before Danaher, he held the role of Senior Vice President, Global Communications at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, overseeing a broad digital and communications transformation. Earlier in his career, stints at AbbVie put him at the center of global public affairs and major product launch campaigns, including work tied to the Allergan acquisition and integration — experience that maps directly onto the Kellanova integration challenge Mars now faces.

In total, Belo brings more than 30 years of cross-sector experience spanning journalism, communications, public affairs, and brand-building, with operational exposure across the U.S., Europe, Japan, and emerging markets. That international depth carries weight for a snacking business distributed across the global foodservice and retail channels that Mars Snacking serves.

Why It Matters for Operators

For foodservice buyers and category managers who source from Mars Snacking's portfolio — snack bars, confections, and salty snacks with strong vending, convenience, and foodservice route penetration — the appointment signals that Mars is prioritizing brand integrity and stakeholder alignment as it absorbs Kellanova's commercial infrastructure. Clarke framed the hire as central to the company's "responsible growth" agenda, noting Belo's ability to build consumer trust alongside the business's commercial ambitions.

Andy Pharoah, Global Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability for Mars, Incorporated, described Belo as a leader whose cross-industry experience and focus on modernizing communications would support the company's "purpose-led growth agenda." In practice, that agenda touches supply chain transparency, sustainability commitments, and the kind of category-level storytelling that influences retail and foodservice partnership decisions at scale. For operators tracking consolidation in the snacking and packaged-food segment, Mars Snacking's communications build-out is a signal worth watching as the Kellanova integration moves through its next phase.

Coverage of related mergers and acquisitions in foodservice supply and snack and confection category trends is available in the Foodservice News archive.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.