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Three members of Ben & Jerry’s independent board will no longer be eligible to serve in their roles, after the ice cream company introduced a new set of governance practices. <\/p>\n
These include a nine-year limit set on board members’ terms. Chair Anuradha Mittal, who earlier said she had no plans to resign under pressure, is among those affected.<\/p>\n
The move was criticised by the company’s co-founder Ben Cohen, who called it a “blatant power grab designed to strip the board of legal authority and independence”.<\/p>\n
His remarks are the latest in a long-running row between Ben and Jerry’s and its owner over the Cherry Garcia maker’s social activism and the continued independence of its board.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The BBC understands that Ms Mittal will leave the company immediately, while board members Mr Dodson and Ms Henderson will go at the end of this year.<\/p>\n
“Anuradha Mittal, Daryn Dodson, and Jennifer Henderson have served this company with integrity and courage. Over many years, they helped the board make bold, often difficult decisions to uphold Ben & Jerry’s social mission,” said Mr Cohen.<\/p>\n
Ben & Jerry’s said the move is aimed “to preserve and enhance the brand’s historical social mission and safeguard its essential integrity.”<\/p>\n
The Vermont-based firm is now owned by The Magnum Ice Cream Company, after a spinoff from Unilever last week that created the world’s largest standalone ice cream maker.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Magnum said the firm wanted to build and strengthen Ben & Jerry’s “powerful, non-partisan values-based position in the world”.<\/p>\n
But Ben & Jerry’s would be destroyed as a brand if it remains with Magnum, Mr Cohen told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Ben & Jerry’s was sold to Unilever in 2000 in a deal which allowed it to retain an independent board and the right to make decisions about its social mission.<\/p>\n
Since the sale there have been deepening clashes between the Vermont-based brand and Unilever, with this conflict now inherited by Magnum.<\/p>\n
In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s refused to sell its products in areas occupied by Israel, resulting in its Israeli operation being sold by Unilever to a local licensee.<\/p>\n