By Aimee Look
One of Ben and Jerry's co-founders said the ice-cream maker's decision to remove three members from its independent board is an attempt by parent company Magnum Ice Cream to dismantle its social mission.
"This is a calculated escalation," Ben Cohen said. "Magnum is hollowing out the very things that give Ben & Jerry's its soul, credibility, and worth."
Cohen's comments come after the Vermont-based brand said on Monday that it plans to set a nine-year term limit for board directors. The move will push out three current board members and is part of a broader set of changes the company said it would make to the body that dictates its social mission.
The three board members who will now be term limited are Anuradha Mittal, Daryn Dodson and Jennifer Henderson. Co-founder Cohen said this indicates that Magnum wants to eliminate the board's independence.
Mittal, who is chair, has been on the board since 2007. She is also the executive director of Oakland Institute, a policy think tank that says land rights, the climate crisis, international aid and equity are among its core issues.
In November, Magnum said she no longer met the criteria to serve after investigations by external advisers. Mittal and Dodson didn't respond to requests for comment; Henderson couldn't be reached.
Cohen also said the company's decision to set a term limit strips the board of the legal authority that was agreed upon when Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry's more than two decades ago.
Magnum Ice Cream, the parent company of Ben & Jerry's, declined to comment.
Magnum went public earlier this month following a spinoff from Unilever. Co-founder Jerry Greenfield left the company in September, while Cohen remains an employee, but frequently voices his criticism.
Cohen and Greenfield, the brand's namesake co-founders, have long emphasized the company's social mission. When Unilever acquired the ice cream maker in 2000, an unusual agreement allowed an independent board to make decisions about the brand's mission and marketing.
What followed were years of friction between Ben & Jerry's and its parent Unilever, before the spinoff of Magnum. Unilever and the independent board clashed over decisions to take public stances on geopolitical issues, particularly the Israel-Gaza conflict.
"We are strengthening governance, increasing transparency, and committing ourselves to greater accountability," Ben & Jerry's Chief Executive Jochanan Senf said in a statement on Monday.
"These improvements matter because they will support us in our journey to become even more impactful and to drive progressive change for years to come."
Write to Aimee Look at aimee.look@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 16, 2025 12:53 ET (17:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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