Fonterra again taps foreigner as CEO job with Theo Spierings

Fonterra again taps foreigner for CEO job with Theo Spierings, overlooks internal candidates

July 14 (BusinessDesk) – Fonterra Cooperative Group has named Dutch dairy executive Theo Spierings as chief executive, to replace Canadian Andrew Ferrier, passing over internal candidates to run the world’s biggest exporter of dairy products.

Spierings will take over from Ferrier effective Sept. 26, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. He led Dutch dairy cooperative Royal Friesland Foods in its 2008 merger with Campina and has 25 years experience in the dairy industry.

“Mr Spierings has a wealth of experience in managing dairy businesses across Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe,” said Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden.

He also had experience in a variety of general management, operations and supply chain and sales and marketing positions across a number of geographies, van der Heyden said.

Spierings, 46, left Royal Friesland shortly after the merger. He is married with three children and currently lives in the Netherlands, where he owns an advisory firm focusing on corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions in the consumer goods sector, the statement says.

“What makes Fonterra really unique is its combination of low-cost pasture based farming and its status as the world’s largest milk processor,” Spierings said in the statement. “The challenge ahead was to add another layer of value across the business.”

Ferrier will announce Fonterra’s 2011 results before handing over to Spierings. Van der Heyden said the cooperative will report “a record financial year.”

(BusinessDesk)

© Scoop Media