Hired and Retired: People on the Move in November

Hired-and-Retired-People-on-the-Move-in-November.jpg
© GettyImages/z_wei (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

We look at developments around personnel in the feed industry over the past few weeks, with a Cargill executive moving to Danish Agro and a change at the top at ForFarmers, among others.

Hired and Retired: People on the Move in November
Hired and Retired: People on the Move in November (z_wei/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Cargill executive moves to Danish Agro
Cargill executive moves to Danish Agro

Former Cargill executive, Adriaan Smulders, has been named as the new poultry director at Vilomix, which is part of Danish Agro.

The company says he brings broad international experience in both poultry research and the feed industry to the role; he has a solid background in both poultry nutrition and feed additives.

After graduating with a Masters in Animal Nutrition at Wageningen University, Smulders specialized in poultry nutrition research working at Schothorst. Then he moved into the international premix business sector, working for LNB and Cargill for 20 years, where he held many different positions in technical, commercial, strategy, marketing and management - always with a strong link to poultry and nutrition.

The past four years saw Smulders lead Cargill Animal Nutrition`s feed additives business in Europe and EMEA.

Female addition to ForFarmers' executive committee
Female addition to ForFarmers' executive committee

Group human resources manager at ForFarmers, Eveline Paternotte, has been appointed to the executive committee of that group, starting January next.

She takes up the place of former director of strategy and organisation, Stijn Steendijk, who has left ForFarmers for Refresco.

Paternotte joined ForFarmers as HR director in May 2020. She has spent the largest part of her career in international HR positions in the food and beverages industry, at PepsiCo and Grolsch. She is also a member of the supervisory board of Koninklijke Grolsch NV.

The executive committee of ForFarmers comprises the executive board members, namely Yoram Knoop (CEO), Roeland Tjebbes (CFO) and Adrie van der Ven (COO), and the other five directors.

The appointment of Paternotte is fully in line with the objective of ForFarmers to enhance internal promotions as well as diversity in management positions, said the company.

The other disciplines that are currently still part of the portfolio of Steendijk will be reallocated to the other directors, it added.

Former FEFAC president takes on AIC feed role
Former FEFAC president takes on AIC feed role

The UK's Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) has announced that Nick Major, corporate affairs director at ForFarmers, has taken on the role of chair of the AIC feed executive committee.

Major was appointed at the AIC AGM in early October; he takes over from the recently appointed AIC chair, Angela Booth, director of feed safety at AB Agri, in that role.

“We are delighted that Nick has accepted this role having served as a member of the feed executive committee for many years," said James McCulloch, feed sector head for the AIC. “He has already had an integral role in the initiatives championed by Angela during her eight years as chair and I am confident that he will be bringing his experience, most notably as past president of FEFAC to build on the unwavering commitment that Angela has demonstrated during her time."

Major said a key focus going forward in the role would undoubtedly be on matters surrounding EU exit and new trade deals. "However all of these issues will, in my view, be driven by the imperative to deliver a more sustainable food supply chain and I will be ensuring our sector seeks to lead on the goals set out in the recently published AIC sustainability roadmap."

New global director of R&D at BioMar
New global director of R&D at BioMar

Danish fish feed group, BioMar, says that, from the start of this month, Simon Wadsworth is heading up its R&D organization globally.  

“[Wadsworth] has an excellent track record within R&D management, product innovation and collaboration with customers and the business," said Carlos Diaz, CEO BioMar Group.

He has been working in the aquaculture sector for more than 30 years, within both feed and farming operations at Marine Harvest, Cermaq and EWOS-Cargill, noted BioMar.

Prior to taking on this role, Wadsworth was global R&D manager at Cargill, where he headed up the aqua R&D program.

New technical manager for pig and poultry sector at Anpario
New technical manager for pig and poultry sector at Anpario

Anpario has appointed Laura Drury as monogastric technical product manager.

She is from a beef farming background and has extensive experience in the ruminant sector, having attended the University of Liverpool where she studied BSc (Hons) Bioveterinary Science and then going on to complete her MSc in Ruminant Nutrition at Harper Adams University, said the UK headquartered specialist feed additives manufacturer.

Drury has been working in industry for eight years, with previous positions at Rumenco and, most recently, at Trouw Nutrition, where she was ruminant technical advisor and product manager.

Botanical ingredients producer bolsters European animal nutrition sales team
Botanical ingredients producer bolsters European animal nutrition sales team

Dariusz Litwinienko has joined the TruGro by Layn team as European animal nutrition sales and business development director.

In this role, he will provide technical product advice and formulation guidance to key animal and pet nutrition customers, said Layn.

Litwinienko has over 20 years of experience working within the animal nutrition sector, most recently serving as general manager at Delacon in Poland. He has extensive knowledge of animal feeding, feed additives, animal feedstuffs and commodities, said Layn.

His product line experience includes amino acids, vitamins, acidifiers, proteins and probiotics, added the botanical ingredient producer.