06 January 2022 - As part of our industry recruitment service, Feedinfo covers recent senior job moves within the global animal nutrition industry, helping industry colleagues keep up to date with new roles, board appointments and business changes. Please send any announcements to Recruitment@feedinfo.com.
In addition, any organisations seeking to recruit specialist or senior staff can take advantage of Feedinfo’s recruitment service, which offers an audience of engaged and highly qualified animal nutrition specialists, managers, and executives. For more details, please contact our recruitment specialist, Dineo Komane at dineo.komane@agribriefing.com.
Recent moves (in alphabetical order of company) include:
Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production announced Dr. Xandra Smith will be stepping into the role of director of innovation and product development as Dr. Tom Rehberger, former director of innovation and product development, retired from the organization at the beginning of December. Xandra Smith has been with ARM & HAMMER since May of 2017. She previously served as the research manager for genomics and ecology of microbes at the Waukesha, Wis., laboratory site.
Tyson Foods subsidiary Cobb-Vantress has appointed Joyce J. Lee as its new president. Lee joins Cobb after serving as executive vice president and president of the US pet health and commercial operations portfolio for Elanco. Lee joined Elanco through its acquisition of Bayer Animal Health in 2020. At Bayer Animal Health, she was the president of the North America segment. Lee also spent more than 16 years at Zoetis in various roles. Lee also currently serves on the board of directors at Balchem Corporation.
Agri-technology company Devenish is expanding its presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with the appointment of Whad Fayed to the new role of Poultry Nutrition Product Manager. Whad has a background in poultry disease and nutrition, an MBA in major international business and over twelve years’ experience in feed additive sales in Egypt. Based in Egypt, Whad will be responsible for leading the development of poultry nutrition in the MENA region and driving sales throughout Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
On 1 February, Jakob Lave will join Danish farm co-op DLG as Director of Sustainable Business Development. He comes from a position as Director of Future Farming in Landbrug & Fødevarer (Danish trade organization for agriculture and food) and Development Manager in the agricultural knowledge center SEGES. In his new role at DLG, Jakob Lave’s job is to help strengthen DLG's competitive position and contribute with strategic initiatives that promote sustainable and innovative business development, value creation and growth across business areas and countries.
ForFarmers has announced that Yoram Knoop, CEO and member of the Executive Board of ForFarmers N.V. will step down after the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 14 April 2022, the date on which his current term ends. This has been decided in mutual consultation between Yoram Knoop and the Supervisory Board. Yoram Knoop joined ForFarmers in November 2013 and became CEO of ForFarmers as of 1 January 2014. He will remain operational as CEO until the end of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders in 2022.
Seafood industry veteran Wally Stevens, who has held various leadership roles with the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) for the past 14 years, retired from his position as Chief Executive Officer at the end of December. Brian Perkins, who joined GSA as chief operating officer on March 1, assumed the role of CEO, effective Jan 1st. While stepping away from his day-to-day responsibilities, Stevens will remain a member of the GSA board of directors and GSA executive committee. Stevens’ career in seafood dates back to 1971.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition announced two new appointments: Jolle Kirpensteijn, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVS and ECVS as Global Chief Veterinary Officer and Karen Shenoy, DVM as Chief Veterinary Officer US. Both appointments are effective January 1, 2022. In his new role, Dr. Kirpensteijn will be responsible for leading the global professional and veterinary affairs team. Before starting his career with Hill’s, Dr. Kirpensteijn was a full-time professor in surgical oncology and reconstruction at Utrecht University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Kirpensteijn succeeds former Global Chief Professional & Veterinary Affairs Officer Dr. Marina Debernardi, who is retiring after nearly 28 years with Hill’s Pet Nutrition. Dr. Shenoy joined Hill’s in 2008. In her time with the organization, she has progressed through a number of roles, including Field Sales and Engagement Director, Associate Director Veterinary Affairs and Sr. Manager Academic Affairs, as well as several field-based roles.
Lesaffre appointed Brice-Audren Riché as the Group’s new Chief Executive Officer effective 1st January 2022. He succeeds Antoine Baule, who has reached the end of his mandate. Brice-Audren Riché joined Lesaffre in 2017 as Global General Manager of Biospringer. He has overseen Procelys, Ennolys and LIS since 2018. As of July 1, 2021, he was appointed Deputy Managing Director of Lesaffre.
Lesaffre also began 2022 with another new appointment to the group’s Executive Committee: Christine M’Rini Puel, newly appointed Chief R&D Officer. She succeeds Carmen Arruda, who is taking over the management of Biospringer, following the appointment of Brice-Audren Riché as CEO of Lesaffre. With doctorates in medicine and science, Puel’s 31-year career has spanned diverse roles, most recently at Danone, where she was Vice President Research and Innovation for all Health & Science topics in the Specialised Nutrition division, leading research on microbiota, immune system defence and/or muscle, bone and cognitive ageing, in search of new natural, microbiological or fermentation-based solutions.
On January 4, the aquaculture joint venture SalMar Aker Ocean appointed Roy Reite to be its new CEO. For 20 years, Roy Reite held key executive positions in Aker Yards and was CEO of what is now the shipbuilding group Vard. He has considerable experience of leading both listed and unlisted companies, and has helped to build a business comprising more than 10,000 employees and generating annual revenues of NOK 12 billion. In 2019, he took over as CEO of Fjordlaks.
Jean-François Laudouze joins Veramaris as Global Business Development Manager, Companion Animals for Veramaris Pets, following the launch of the sustainable Omega-3 algal oil into the pet food industry in July 2020. Laudouze was previously EMEA Sales Director at Diana Pet Food.
Ÿnsect has announced the hiring of three new leadership positions. Joining Ÿnsect's executive committee are Shankar Krishnamoorthy – EVP, Chief Strategy Officer, Tina Lawton – EVP, Chief Growth Officer and Isabelle Toledano-Koutsouris – EVP, Chief Financial & Administrative Officer. Shankar Krishnamoorthy has nearly four decades of experience as a global executive in the energy sector. Tina Lawton has more than 25 years of experience in life sciences and adjacent industries. Isabelle Toledano-Koutsouris is a senior executive with over twenty years' international finance experience at top-tier investment banks.
The new executive committee, chaired by Elisabeth Fleuriot, also has two new representatives: Jean-Gabriel Levon, co-founder of Ynsect, for the "Impact" Department, and Nicolas Desombre for the "Digital" Department.
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