Hakan Zor

Chief Operations Officer, HARIBO of America

Hakan Zor is a senior operations and manufacturing executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience in production and employee engagement. His expertise in international operations, global manufacturing practices and building high performance teams has led him to his current role as Chief Operations Officer at HARIBO of America.

Mr. Zor has been with HARIBO since 2002, starting as the Production Management Director of HARIBO Turkey where he built the HARIBO Istanbul plant in 2003 and now manages HARIBO Operations for the U.S. Under Mr. Zor’s leadership, HARIBO opened its first-ever North American manufacturing facility in 2023. The 500,000 sq. ft. facility is the largest capital investment in the history of HARIBO, and Mr. Zor’s experience and expertise continue to be critical ensuring its success. Over the years, Mr. Zor has advanced supply planning and has enhanced critical manufacturing initiatives and operations across the globe. He has enabled energy saving projects, R&D, EHS and Quality projects which later became a benchmark in HARIBO group. He’s overseen hundreds of employees, all while making HARIBO a great place to work, reducing turnover by 40% and increasing product capacity more than five-fold.

Prior to joining HARIBO, Mr. Zor held leadership roles with high-end aircraft catering services, including LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet International. He worked in the UK as Corporate Trainer and in Istanbul in various Operations roles. As Plant Manager he built the LSG Sky Chef’s Plant in 1998 and only two years later got the `Most Improved Caterer` and `Bronze Quality Awards` globally among 120 plants worldwide.

Mr. Zor holds his Bachelor of Arts in Educational Sciences Guidance and Psychological Counseling from Bosphorus University, originally Robert College which is the oldest continually-running American school founded outside the U.S. He is a certified business coach and is passionate about developing his team members and mentees.

Mr. Zor is a hands-on executive who leads by example with authenticity, placing emphasis on integrity and quality in all aspects of his role and guiding his team.