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ICCO appoints Michel Arrion as executive director

Arrion to serve five-year term.

ICCO HQ Abidjan — The International Cocoa Organization's headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Photo from ICCO.

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) has appointed former EU ambassador Michel Arrion as its new executive director.

Arrion, who is from Belgium, has served the European Union as a civil servant in African countries such as Nigeria, Rwanda and Ivory Coast. He succeeds Jean Anga.

The International Cocoa Council, the ICCO’s governing body appointed Arrion in late September. He will serve a five-year term.

The ICCO said Arrion is looking forward to using his experience and knowledge of the cocoa sector to work with producers and consumers to surmount the challenges facing the sector.

Alyse Thompson has held many positions with BNP Media, first serving as an intern at Candy Industry Magazine in summer 2012. She joined Candy Industry's staff full time as associate editor in August 2016 after a few years at newspapers in West-Central Illinois, becoming managing editor in March 2019. Alyse has also served as managing editor of Cannabis Products Magazine since March 2019. She has bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Spanish from Western Illinois University.