Erik Visser, formerly CEO at Nutriad, has now taken on the role of chief executive of Hamlet Protein, a soy-based specialty protein producer for young animals that is headquartered in Denmark and is jointly owned by Goldman Sachs and Altor Fund IV.
Visser has held positions in various multinational companies, across Europe and in Latin America, has extensive experience in the feed industry through senior management roles at Provimi, Nutriad and Adisseo.
“We are convinced that Erik’s industry knowledge and network, global orientation and drive makes him very well suited to help Hamlet Protein execute its growth agenda,” says Kjeld Johannesen, chair of the Hamlet Protein board of directors.
Visser replaces Søren Munch, who has reached an agreement with the Hamlet board to leave his position as CEO after more than 10 years in that role.
We interviewed Visser in December 2017 when Adisseo took over Nutriad, where he talked about growth opportunities globally, but with a particular emphasis on the Asia Pacific region.
Traas to end tenure as CFO of ForFarmers
Arnout Traas, CFO of ForFarmers and member of the executive board, has announced that he is to step down after the AGM of the company in April 2020.
Arnout Traas took on the CFO role in August 2011.
“After a very interesting period at ForFarmers, during which the company has grown substantially through, amongst others, acquisitions and during which the listing on the stock exchange also took place, I have decided not to be eligible for reappointment for a new term so that I can focus on other activities, such as non-executive tasks," he said.
Yoram Knoop, CEO ForFarmers, commented: “We respect Arnout’s decision. He has played a vital role in further professionalising ForFarmers and in the implementation of the acquisition strategy as of 2011. Arnout has also been instrumental during the transition of a cooperative to a stock listed company. In order to ensure a smooth transfer of tasks, ForFarmers will be starting up an executive search for his succession soon.”
In other feed industry job changes news...
UK feed industry stalwart, Neil Richardson has been named managing director of UK company, Humphrey Feed & Pullets.
Jeroen de Veer has just been appointed product manager, broilers, North West Europe, for Dutch group, Agrifirm Feed. Prior to this role, he had been a nutritionist with the company, focused on broiler diets, since late 2015.
Jim Holliday has been promoted to the role of country manager, North America, for Chr. Hansen. He has held several positions in the Danish group, most recently as vice president of global business development.
Sam Smyth became technical director at Belfast based feed manufacturer, Thompson and Sons Ltd, in May. He has worked at the Northern Ireland company for over five years. Prior to his tenure there, he headed up the UK and Ireland poultry sales division at Devenish Nutrition, following many years as a poultry nutritionist at that group.
Ferdi van Aswegen has been appointed account manager at Kemin Industries. He has held various roles in the feed sector over the past few years, having worked at De Heus and the Kuipers Group.
Newman honored for feed safety standard work
In terms of recognition of work done to date, AFIA president, Joel Newman, was awarded FEFAC honorary membership at FEFAC’s 60th anniversary event in Brussels last week; he was the first non-European feed industry expert to be so recognized.
He was praised for his professional commitment to promote feed safety standards at global level with the setting up of the first International Feed Regulators Meeting (IFRM) in 2008 in Atlanta, co-hosted by FAO and the IFIF.
Newman will be retiring from the AFIA in December this year.
Are you ready to help run EFSA?
Meanwhile, the European Commission is organizing a selection procedure to replace 7 out of 14 members of the management board of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) whose mandates will expire on 30 June 2020.
The call for expressions of interest was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and the deadline for submission of applications is next month – July 19 2019.
The management board is responsible for the general monitoring of the work of EFSA to ensure that it carries out its mission and performs the tasks assigned to it in accordance with its mandate and within a culture of independence and transparency. It appoints the Executive Director of EFSA as well as members of the Authority’s scientific committee and the scientific panels.
The application form in relation to that call can be found here.