Colin Gordon, the current CEO of Glanbia Consumer Foods, is expected to step down from the company at the end of the year.
After informing Jim Bergin, the CEO of Glanbia Ireland (GI), in recent months it is understood that Gordon wishes “to take a change in direction with his career”.
Gordon was appointed to his current post – where he is responsible for managing the company’s liquid milk, fresh dairy produce, cheeses, soups and spreads in the Irish retail market – in 2007.
However, his career in consumer goods spans back more than three decades.
The move was confirmed as part of an internal announcement issued yesterday.
It states: “On request Colin agreed that he would remain with the organisation as head of consumer foods until December 2018 to support in the development of the new business model.”
Meanwhile, details on a number of top-level design changes as part of the company’s more integrated model – set to come into effect in May next year – were also highlighted in the memo.
The company’s new business structure – which is 60% owned by Glanbia Co-op and 40% by Glanbia plc – will include the following changes:
- The ‘Glanbia Ireland Business Model’ will transition from the current business unit structure to a category and functional structure;
- There will be three categories – farmer facing, consumer and ingredients;
- The three supply chain and operations functions will be centralised under a single function;
- In addition to finance and human resources the newly-formed ‘Quality and Compliance Function’ and the ‘R&D Function’ will be centralised functions of the business.
The formation of Glanbia Ireland was overwhelmingly approved by Glanbia Co-op members at an Special General Meeting (SGM) held last May.
The creation of Glanbia Ireland involves the integration of three strong Irish businesses – Glanbia Agribusiness, Glanbia Consumer Products and Glanbia Ingredients Ireland (GII).
Appointments
A number of recent appointments at the company include:
- Sean Molloy, current director of Strategy and Supply Development GI, will take on the new role of chief agribusiness growth officer;
- Jim O’Neill, current operations director GII, will take on the new role of chief operations and supply chain officer;
- Mike O’Connor, current quality director GII, has been appointed to the role of chief quality and compliance officer;
- Francois Morgan has been named chief research and development officer.
An appointment will be made to the chief growth officer role at the appropriate point. This new role will focus on “building industry-leading commercial and marketing activities to deliver sustainable profitable growth”.