De Jonge, who will be based in Mars/Masterfoods European headquarters in Brussels, joins the company from the Dutch Consumer Association (Consumentenbond), where she was Executive Director and a member of the board from 1999 to now. As part of this role she was also an executive member of BEUC, the European federation of Consumer organisations (where she has served as President since autumn 2006), a member of the European Consultative Consumer Group (DG Sanco) and a member of the TACD Steering Committee (Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue). Prior to this, from 1995 to 1999, she was Manager for Marketing and Communication Business Letters at TNT Post, the Dutch post Office, where her responsiblities included consumer and business to business marketing and the company's communications strategy. As part of her joining Masterfoods, Klaske de Jonge will resign from all of her current positions by the end of April.

In her new role at Masterfoods, Klaske and her team will establish a strong communications operation regarding the company's activities and play a vital role in establishing a dialogue with media and the public on topics such as health and nutrition, the environment and social responsibility. Additionally, she will also coordinate the Corporate Communication functions of all major European markets.

"With Klaske, we now have a strong and effective team in place that will participate in the debate around the food industry", said David Kamenetzky, Senior Vice President for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for Europe and the CIS. "Klaske and the recently appointed Matthias Berninger as Director of Corporate Health and Nutrition Affairs demonstrate our efforts to establish an open dialogue and to communicate our efforts to produce and sell products in a way that contributes to a balanced and healthy lifestyle."

From the March 26, 2007, Prepared Foods e-Flash