Kristian Tashev

General Manager | Scaling Pet & Consumer Businesses in EMEA | P&L Owner | Global Business Growth & Transformation | Scale-Ups, Turnarounds & Organizational Performance

Istanbul, Türkiye

About

I am a senior executive and General Manager with 20+ years of international experience leading complex, multi-market businesses across Europe, the Middle East, and Eurasia. I specialize in driving profitable growth, transforming organizations, and building strong leadership teams in dynamic and often challenging environments. Across my career, I have held full P&L ownership and led businesses through periods of scale-up, structural change, and market volatility, consistently balancing commercial performance with long-term organizational health. I am known for combining strategic clarity with hands-on execution, turning ambitious visions into measurable results. My leadership style is grounded in: • Clear strategic direction and disciplined execution • Strong people development and succession planning • Cross-cultural leadership across diverse markets • Building trust-based partnerships with boards, teams, and external stakeholders Beyond financial performance, I place strong emphasis on culture, purpose, and sustainable growth, believing that the best results come from engaged teams, clear accountability, and aligned values. I am particularly effective in roles that require: • Leading across multiple countries and stakeholders • Business transformation and capability building • Growth acceleration and portfolio optimization • Strengthening governance, structure, and leadership pipelines

Experience

  • Royal Canin (Full-time · 9 yrs 7 mos)
    • Hub Manager Eurasia
      Apr 2025 - Present · 1 yr 3 mos

      Hub Manager Eurasia | Royal Canin | InDi Function 📍Covering ~30 countries across Europe and Asia As Hub Manager for the Eurasia region, I’m responsible for leading cross-functional collaboration and driving performance across a diverse portfolio of markets. My role focuses on: Supporting local teams and importers to deliver sustainable growth Driving excellence in commercial execution and go-to-market strategies Strengthening internal ways of working, onboarding, and capability building Acting as a strategic connector between markets and regional functions Working across cultures, geographies, and business models, I’m committed to creating value for our partners and healthier lives for pets everywhere.

    • GM Israel at Royal Canin
      Jan 2021 - Apr 2025 · 4 yrs 4 mos

      • Leading and developing market setup, legal and organizational design with a focus on operations management and engineering internal ways of working • Transforming the business and pet food market to a modern trade approach • Maximize growth and specific PnL objectives • Create, adapt, and implement strategies and initiatives in online and offline trade • Ensure cross-market collaborations and best practices • Create local solid sales management and efficient sales operations • Delivered double-digit revenue growth and improved profitability in a highly competitive pet food market ▪ Led local turnaround by restructuring go-to-market model and accelerating vet channel growth ▪ Grew team from A to B while maintaining high engagement scores ▪ Orchestrated digital transformation of B2B platform and CRM tools ▪ Represented Royal Canin Israel at regional leadership boards

    • Country Head Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia
      Nov 2018 - Jul 2021 · 2 yrs 9 mos

      • Leading and developing markets setup, legal and organizational design • Transforming the business and pet food market • Maximize growth and specific PnL objectives • Create, adapt and implement regional initiatives, priorities&strategy • Ensure cross-country collaborations and best practices • Focus on key account management, new business development, and specific financial optimization • Creating and implementing sales, marketing and digital strategy for the three countries

  • Mentor at Mentor the Young
    Oct 2021 - Present · 4 yrs 9 mos

    Mentor in the organization since their creation. Supporting mentees with achieving their goals and dreams.

  • Export Manager EU at KT INTERNATIONAL SA
    Feb 2015 - Dec 2016 · 1 yr 11 mos

    • Planning, organizing, and implementing all export/import sales/marketing activities of the company for the selected markets with a focus on implementing best international business practices • Creating and implementing business plans for the selected markets to deliver specific trade results. • Set and achieve the targets with supporting marketing activities to ensure maximum productivity and profitability. • Ensuring smooth flow of all processes and procedures per European and local legislation by working with internal and external contacts and government officials. • Coordinate processes with manufacturing and supply chain - Responsible for Italy, Switzerland and Slovenia

  • Philip Morris Bulgaria (Sofia)
    • Manager Consumer Engagement
      Jan 2013 - Jul 2014 · 1 yr 7 mos

      • Responsible for a large team nationwide with a significant level of complication, 80 people with four levels of reporting • Developing, organizing, and executing the company’s brand-building plans and activities • Defining and executing HoReCa and consumer engagement strategy • Achieving specific marketing, brand, and sales targets • Strict compliance and governance, including management of 7 digit budget

    • National Sales Field Force Manager
      Aug 2010 - Jan 2013 · 2 yrs 6 mos

      • Responsible for the development, planning, deployment, and supervision of all activities related to the sales field force in Bulgaria, including • Key accounts, distribution, merchandising, budget and control, compliance, trade marketing strategy, recruitment, and training • Ensure talent management and create successor pools for the subsequent business development • Become the leading company in the industry with innovative and international best practices

    • Sales and Organizational Development
      Mar 2009 - Aug 2010 · 1 yr 6 mos

      • Solely responsible for the development of the sales and marketing field forces • Recruitment, hiring, induction, in-class and on-the-field training, talent development • Organizing and implementing organizational structure changes

  • BTL Manager and Area Manager at Orgachim Jsc
    Mar 2004 - Oct 2006 · 2 yrs 8 mos

    1. Creating and controlling national promotional activities and a team of area merchandisers. 2. Creating reports and proposals based on the findings. 3. Finding and contracting construction companies and wholesalers within the West region.