11 February 2022 - As part of our industry recruitment service, Feedinfo covers recent senior job moves within the global animal nutrition industry, helping professionals 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:
AB Agri appointed Simon Heath in its new CCO role to drive international expansion. Simon Heath was previously Managing Director of animal nutrition business unit AB Connect. He is now supporting business development and strategy across all divisions of the AB Agri group. He will oversee plans to expand AB Agri’s geographical footprint with a key focus on South East Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and the Americas. In addition, Simon will support the development of the group’s product and services in the dairy, swine, and poultry sectors. Originally from a farming background, Simon has a passion for agriculture as well as three decades’ experience having joined AB Agri in the late 1980s as part of a graduate scheme. His career has included a variety of sales and senior management positions in the UK, US, Canada and China.
During a Board of Directors’ Meeting held on 31 January 2022, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. announced a change of president/CEO and executive officers. The new president/CEO, Taro Fujie, is to take on the new role on 1 April 2022 and replace current president Takaaki Nishii, while the new executive officers are to be inaugurated on 1 April and in late-June 2022. Taro Fujie has management experience both in Japan and internationally since joining Ajinomoto, including managing the China business, serving as president of subsidiaries in the Philippines and Brazil, and leading both the food and amino science businesses. Since 2013, he has played a part in Ajinomoto's corporate cultural transformation as a corporate executive officer and executive officer.
Avivagen announced the appointment of James Nickerson as President. Currently Mr. Nickerson holds the role of Vice President of Business Development and Innovation for Avivagen. Upon joining Avivagen in 2007, Mr. Nickerson established Avivagen’s Charlottetown biological research facility and directed the research and development program as senior research biologist. Over the last 15 years he held progressively senior roles within the company, including Director of Biology and Director of Commercialization Science, prior to taking over Business Development and Innovation responsibilities. During this period, he also co-authored six scientific papers on Avivagen’s oxidized carotenoid technology platform, and is listed as an author on seven patents relating to the company’s product.
Benchmark Genetics expanded their core genetics team by hiring Dr. Grazyella Yoshida as Senior Geneticist and Hans Ekvall as Junior Geneticist. Both positions are located at the head office in Bergen.
Grazyella Yoshida earned her MSc in Animal Science from the University of Maringa, Brazil, in 2014, and her Ph.D. in Genetics and Animal Breeding from Sao Paulo State University in 2018. She has worked as an associate with José Manuel Yáñez’ renowned research group at the University of Chile, supporting the development and uptake of quantitative and genomic tools in R&D projects with numerous aquaculture species. Also, she has extensive experience from support to applied breeding programs for salmonids and tilapia in Chile and Brazil.
Hans Ekvall recently completed his European Master’s in Animal Breeding and Genetics (EMABG) program with combined studies at Georg August University in Germany and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). Before that, he did a bachelor on epigenetics in tilapia at the Nord University in Bodø, followed by studies in biomedicine at the University of Bergen. Hans has a broad international work experience from Europe, Asia, and Australia, including the species abalone and pearl oysters. For nearly three years, Hans worked as a technician in eyed egg production at Erfjord Stamfisk and thereby has practical experience from breeding Atlantic salmon. He will support external clients with applied consultancy services in his new role.
Chris Cassady, Ph.D., is the new Technical Sales Field Manager at BioZyme® Inc. In his role, he will help educate dealers, producers and the staff about nutritional needs as they relate to livestock to help make the customer more profitable. Most recently, Cassady has spent the last 5 ½ years at Iowa State University, serving as an Assistant Teaching Professor and Livestock Judging Team Coach. He earned his doctorate in Animal Science at the University of Illinois. He previously attended Texas A&M University and Black Hawk East, where he was a member of successful livestock judging teams. Cassady grew up on an Angus seedstock operation in central Illinois and was a member of the National Junior Angus Board of Directors.
Cermaq Chile announced a new Managing Director. With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Pedro Courard, current Production Director of the company, replaced Steven Rafferty who will become the new CEO of Cermaq Group, based in Oslo, Norway, starting 1 March 2022. Pedro is an industrial civil engineer from the University of Chile and has an MBA from the University of Tulane, USA. In addition, he has worked in the salmon industry for more than 20 years, holding senior management positions in the areas of Processing and Farming in Invertec, Scale Chile, Multi X and since 2019 as Production Director of Cermaq Chile.
Darling Ingredients Vice President, Investor Relations, Sustainability and Global Communications, Melissa Gaither will retire effective April 29 after more than 33 years of service. Suann Guthrie has been named to succeed Ms. Gaither, effective Jan. 31. Reporting to Stuewe, Ms. Guthrie will be responsible for leading Darling's investor relations and communications strategy as well as overseeing the company's commitment to sustainability. Ms. Guthrie brings more than 20 years of leadership across strategy development, media and investor relations, public and government affairs, corporate communications, crisis management and ESG. She joins Darling most recently as a communications executive from the tech industry.
ECO Animal Health Group plc announced that the Board of the Company has approved David Hallas's appointment as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board with effect from 1 April 2022. This follows the announcement on 26 July 2021 regarding Marc Loomes' intention to retire from ECO during 2022. David Hallas has over 30 years of experience in the animal health industry and is a qualified veterinarian. He is currently managing director of Sure Petcare, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck Inc. providing digital based solutions to the companion animal sector with sales of over US$170m. Prior to this role, he was Associate Vice President of MSD Animal Health with full P&L responsibility for mid Europe which comprised a group of 7 European countries with a combined revenue of over US$450m; he has also held senior global, regional and business unit management roles in other animal health businesses within Merck, Schering Plough and Pfizer (now Zoetis) and lived and worked overseas including in the USA.
The Industrial Chemical Division of Esseco Group has announced the appointment of a new Managing Director: Eng. Roberto Vagheggi, experienced professional, for over 20 years in the chemical industry. Vagheggi, already President of Hydrochem Italia and CEO of Altair Chimica and Altair Iberica, with the new appointment also assumes responsibility for all the companies headed by Esseco - Industrial Products Division, with subsidiaries in Italy, Great Britain, France, United States, Mexico and Brazil, for Addcon Group and Zolfindustria.
Within this reorganisation, Andrea Mangiarotti takes the role of Marketing Director for the entire Industrial Chemicals Division. He will direct and coordinate all Marketing activities, concerning both sales and strategic raw materials supply, with the aim of maximizing market synergies of a business sector whose activities are highly interconnected.
Following elections for the new IFFO Management Board (starting 1st January 2022), IFFO announced that its new President is Gonzalo de Romaña (former Vice-President) and its new Vice-President is Egil Magne Haugstad. Gonzalo de Romaña is the CEO of Peruvian fishmeal and fish oil producer Tecnológica de Alimentos (TASA). He has been a member of the IFFO Board of Directors since 2018. Egil Magne Haugstad is the CEO of Pelagia AS. Pelagia’s Head Office is in Norway with factories concentrated on North Atlantic. The Fishmeal and -oil factories are in Norway, England, Scotland and Ireland.
Royal Agrifirm Group appointed Fanny Weinbreck as Global R&D Director & Oliver Thimm as Global Innovation Portfolio Lead.
As Global R&D Director, Fanny Weinbreck will manage the research & development agenda, supporting their business units in animal nutrition and arable agriculture. She will take the lead over the global Royal Agrifirm Group R&D department. Mrs. Weinbreck studied Biology at the University of Compiegne (France). She obtained her PhD at the University of Utrecht. In 2007 she started her impressive career at FrieslandCampina Kievit with various functions within the Research & Development departments of the company.
Meanwhile, Oliver Thimm will be responsible for corridor portfolio management and will also build up and steer the Program Office within the corridors. He is alumni of the Humboldt University in Berlin where he obtained a degree in Agriculture - Plant Science and his PhD. After a post doctorate at the Max Planck institute and a research fellowship at the University of York, he started his successful career at BASF where he was Director Enzymes, Stain & Process research & White Biotechnology. Prior to this Oliver held various other positions in transformative innovation within BASF.
