CHEF SAM - Key Persons
Hours began his career at Unilever in 1979 as Brand Manager.
In 1985, he joined the Danone as Brand Marketing Manager Group at Kronenbourg. In 1987 became Sales Director of Evian, and in 1989 Marketing Director for Danone France, later becoming the President of Danone Hungary (1994), Danone Germany (1996) and finally President of LU France in 1998.
In November 2001, Hours was named the Vice-President of the Fresh Dairy Products division and became the President in March 2002. In November 2006 he also took charge of the Research and Development at Danone.
In 2008, Hours became COO of Danone Group, responsible for four operating divisions of the group: fresh dairy products, waters, baby nutrition, and medical nutrition, as well as of research and development.
Hours contributed significantly to sales growth between 2007 and 2013, from 14 to 22 billion euros during this period. He exercised is responsible for all activities of Danone, encompassing around 100,000 people in and 100 countries.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Director & Country Manager the Netherlands
Rafa - as he is often known - began his professional career in the field of brand communication in 1986 at the Lowe-DxD agency. In 1989 he founded Vinizius, associating himself with the Young and Rubicam network, and giving rise to Vinizius Y&R.
Esteve was CEO of Vinizius Y&R for 28 years and managed to position it as the leading agency in the Catalan market for almost two decades. As President of Y&R Spain, he reached and remained among the top 3 agencies in the country, during this time he stood out for his specialization and absolute leadership in food brands and Spanish multinationals. In 1996 Y&R became part of the multinational WPP, a group to which he finally sell his agency. At WPP, he was part of the Executive Committee Y&R, a member of the WPP Board of Global Strategy, as well as Team Leader of Danone Mundial. At Danone he was the only external member of the Executive Boards of the Dairy and Waters divisions.
In 2005 he began his activity as an executive investor in companies in the food sector and later in native digital companies, of which he has already made more than 6 successful exits.
In 2016 he co-founded Chef Sam with his current partners, actively leading the strategy and brand area.