ABP Food Group (ABP) has today (Tuesday, July 5) announced the appointment of Sharon Whitehead to the board of the company as a non-executive director.

Sharon is the group vice-president of human resources (HR) at Smurfit Kappa plc. Prior to joining Smurfit Kappa plc, she worked with Kerry Group plc in various international HR leadership roles, including global vice-president of HR.

Whitehead is a fellow of the CIPD, the professional body for Human Resources and People Development, and holds a bachelor’s degree, in addition to various industry qualifications.

Sharon Whitehead

ABP appointment

Commenting on the appointment, John Moloney, chairman of ABP Food Group said: “I am pleased to welcome Sharon Whitehead to the ABP Food Group Board.

“She brings a wealth of international leadership experience to the role, particularly in the areas of HR, talent development, food science and food processing.

“Her appointment further strengthens the board as the business continues to grow and evolve across each of our divisions.”

Food group

ABP describes itself as a leading food company which provides quality red meat products to many of Europe’s leading retailers and food service providers.

The company employs 13,200 colleagues across its four divisions: Beef; Pet Foods; Renewables; and Proteins.

ABP has processing facilities in nine countries and has a turnover of over €4 billion.

The meat processing company recently joined forces with milk processing co-op Aurivo to announce details of a new pilot scheme offered to Aurivo milk suppliers.

The move comes as part of ABP’s Advantage Beef Programme initiative, which aims to highlight the importance of good sire genetics when buying calves from the dairy herd that are destined for beef production.

The new pilot scheme, which has been filled for this year, sees high-genetic-merit beef artificial insemination (AI) straws offered to Aurivo milk suppliers.