Guyton has held the post for 15-years since WCF was founded in 2000.
WCF Chairman and chief sustainability officer at Mars Barry Parkin thanked Guyton for his service.
“His vision over the past 15 years has led to an unprecedented focus by industry and others on improving the lives of cocoa farmers and their families. Bill’s ability to identify non-competitive areas for collaboration between chocolate and cocoa companies is evidenced by last year’s launch of CocoaAction, a new sustainability strategy that he shepherded from the beginning.”
He said the WCF Board of Directors will begin to search for Guyton’s successor. Guyton will remain in the position until December 31, 2015.
Guyton said he was proud to have mobilized technical and financial resources to support cocoa farming families around the world.
“I will continue to support WCF in any way that I can, and will always applaud the chocolate and cocoa industry’s efforts to accelerate sustainability in the sector,” he said in a release.