LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Sept. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., a leading organic and natural products company with operations in North America, Europe and India providing consumers with A Healthier Way of Life™, today announced the appointment of Pasquale ("Pat") Conte as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective September 8, 2015. Stephen J. Smith, who has served as Hain Celestial's Chief Financial Officer will remain with the Company through September 30, 2015 to ensure an orderly transition.
In October, 2014 Pat was named Senior Vice President, Finance and Treasurer, having joined Hain Celestial in July, 2009 after acting as a financial consultant to the Company previously. In these roles, Pat has overseen the Company's worldwide financial planning and analysis and worked strategically on mergers and acquisitions, quarterly reporting, taxes and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance as well as productivity and other initiatives.
Pat is a Certified Public Accountant, who previously worked at Colgate-Palmolive Company, NYNEX Corporation and Arthur Anderson, LLP. Prior to joining Hain Celestial, he worked at Motorola, Inc. (formerly Symbol Technologies, Inc.) in a series of financial roles of increasing responsibilities including Tax Director, Vice President and Controller and ultimately, Chief Financial Officer.
"Pat has been an integral part of our finance team for over five years, where he has been a key leader in working to drive our continued growth and success over the last several years," said Irwin D. Simon, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hain Celestial. "Pat's deep understanding of consumer goods, his forward thinking and tenure at the Company make him a natural candidate to help us to continue to growth both organically and through acquisitions on a global basis."
"I am honored to have this opportunity to lead our finance team as we grow across geographies and sales channels with existing and new customers," said Pat Conte. "Our organization has a strong foundation for growth beginning with Irwin, the leadership team and all Hain Celestial's employees and partners, who are committed to work with us to achieve our business goals to 2020 and beyond."
"We thank Steve Smith for all his contributions over the past two years, and we wish him well in all his future endeavors as he pursues other opportunities," concluded Irwin Simon.
