Arla Foods recently announced the appointment of Peter Gioertz-Carlsen as the new executive vice president for Arla UK, replacing Peter Lauritzen who has decided to take a global role in the Arla Group prior to his retirement in 2015.
Arla Foods is a global dairy company and co-operative owned by 12,600 dairy farmers circa 2,800 of whom are British. Arla Foods UK is the largest dairy company in the country and is home to leading dairy brands Anchor, Cravendale, and Lactofree.
The farmer-owned co-operative is the UK’s largest cheese manufacturer. It has also built the world’s largest fresh milk facility located at Aylesbury and has plans for it to be the first zero carbon site of its kind. The UK business has a team of approximately 4,000 employees located at its dairies, distribution centres and head office.
Peter Lauritzen, who led Arla’s business in the UK for the last seven years, has decided to step down as an executive vice president and member of Arla Foods’ executive management group. Peter will continue to work for the global business reporting to Arla’s CEO, Peder Tuborgh, before retiring.
“Peter Lauritzen has had a phenomenal career with Arla and has been influential in the growth and development that we have experienced in recent years. He has played an important role in developing our European cooperative into the sixth largest dairy company in the world. His experience and energy will be missed and I wish to thank him for all that he has given to Arla,” says Arla CEO, Peder Tuborgh.
Peter Lauritzen comments: “After 44 years of working for Arla, now feels like the right time to plan my future retirement. Working within the UK business has been one of the highlights of my career having overseen the merger with Milk Link and integration of 2,800 British farmer owners into our European cooperative as well as the delivery of the world’s largest fresh milk facility in Aylesbury and other significant investments.”