The new board of Bord Bia has been confirmed. Seven people have been appointed by Minister Simon Coveney under the new public appointments process, and will now serve on the Irish food marketing agency’s board.

Among them are Tom Moran, who stepped down as secretary general of the Department of Agriculture at the end of 2014. The chairman of Tesco, Ireland’s biggest retailer, joins him.

The new appointments in full are:

Rachel Doyle, managing director of Arboretum, a successful garden outlet in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow.

Tony Keohane, the current chairman and former CEO of Tesco Ireland, Ireland’s largest retailer.

Tom Moran, the recently-retired and highly regarded former secretary general of the Department of Agriculture.

Raymond O’Rourke, food lawyer, author, lecturer, and member of the European Food Safety Authority.

Pat Whelan, craft butcher and director of James Whelan’s butchers, who have shops in Clonmel, Monkstown, Dublin, and Rathcoole, Co Wicklow. He runs an online meat store and pioneered Wagyu beef in Ireland.

Two outgoing members, Rhona Holland, director of global consumer marketing for PepsiCo, and Brody Sweeney, formerly the CEO of O’Briens sandwiches, now director of Camille Thia Kitchen, were re-appointed.

These seven join the eight serving members of the board. Chairman is Michael Carey, formerly of Jacobs biscuits. John Horgan, managing director of Kepak, and Frank Hayes, who is Kerry Foods marketing manager, give representation to processors from the dairy and beef sectors.

Also on the board are Caroline Keeling, managing director of Keeling foods, Fergal O’Gara, from UCC’s microbiology department (nominated by Jobs Minister Richard Bruton) and Marian Byrne from the Department of Agriculture. IFA and ICMSA both traditionally have a seat on the board, and are represented by presidents Eddie Downey and John Comer.

Bord Bia has an annual budget of about €50m, about 10% of which is levied from farmers. They are responsible for quality assurance audits on dairy, beef and sheep farms.

Five sub-committees work at sub-board level, covering Consumer Foods, Meat and Livestock, Dairy, Quality Assurance, and Horticulture. There is significant farmer representation on these sub-boards.