Cavan man appointed head of major food company

The company is a major player in the food service market in Ireland.

Sysco Ireland has announced today that Mark Lee has been appointed its CEO.

It follows a handover period with outgoing CEO Peter Jackson, who has been appointed as the new CEO of Sysco in Great Britain. He took up that role on January 1.

Billis native Mark joined Sysco Ireland in December 2018 as Commercial Director, responsible for sales, marketing, and customer engagement.

His achievements with the company include overseeing the rebrand of Pallas Foods to Sysco Ireland, the country's largest foodservice business. It has over 10,000 customers and and delivery coverage nationwide.

He also led the significant growth of Sysco’s independent customer business, managed the rollout of Sysco’s World Food customer proposition and launched a new e-commerce platform for the company, Sysco Store.

Prior to joining Sysco, Mark held senior roles at Brook Foods, Compass Group and the Doyle Collection, developing a broad base of commercial leadership experience.

Born in Billis, he's the son of Anne and Patsy Lee. He attended St Patrick's College in Cavan town, where his father was principal.

Commenting on the appointment, Executive Vice President & President, Foodservice Operations of Sysco International, Tim Ørting, said: “Under Mark’s commercial leadership, independent foodservice sales have grown rapidly across the island of Ireland over the last three years. The rebrand to Sysco Ireland and launch of Sysco Store have proven to be very compelling for our independent customers, making it even easier to engage with our business and help us to consistently deliver for them, every day. I would like to thank Peter Jackson for his leadership over the past four years, having brought our businesses in the north and south together under a single brand umbrella. I wish him the very best as he takes on his new role as CEO of Sysco in Great Britain.”