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Kevin Lane’s departure from Ornua was a surprise.
The co-op behind the iconic Kerrygold brand announced on Tuesday that he will be step down in the middle of next year.
When Lane became CEO in 2010, the business had sales of €1.9bn, profits of €22m and margins of 1%.
Thoughts now to turn to who will replace the affable Kerryman
Over his tenure, he has completed a string of acquisitions in Europe, the US and the Middle East, moved into butter processing in Ireland, sold the US distribution business, managed the business without a farmer levy, and leaves the business with no outstanding debt.
The announcement is somewhat surprising given that he just recently delivered a new five-year strategy for Ornua, where he committed to doubling sales to €3bn while delivering a 3% margin level over the next five years.
This plan raised some eyebrows in the industry as to how it could be delivered given the recent spate of investments and acquisitions, and that about half of the business is still in commodities.
Big shoes to fill
Thoughts now to turn to who will replace the affable Kerryman.
An early contender has to be Roisín Hennerty, who is CEO of Ornua’s US branch, which has seen enormous growth, especially for Kerrygold.
Other senior and capable people in Ornua include its oracle on markets Joe Collins, its chief operations man Anthony Proctor and John Jordan, who is boss of Ornua in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia
Looking into the dairy and food industry, there are a few obvious and skilled candidates.
It was always seen as a strategic move by Co Wexford man Nick Whelan to leave Glanbia and move to Belfast for the Dale Farm job. Might he be tempted to return south?
Jim Woulfe from Dairygold and Lakeland’s Michael Hanley are the bosses at the second and third largest dairy processors on the island and are capable operators. But would they be interested?
Kevin Toland, who was once the perceived anointed one in Glanbia and now of Aryzta, would be a fine candidate but only started earning bread with the bread company earlier this year.
Then you have the myriad people in the various processors who aren’t well known in the public eye but do crucial behind-the-scenes work.
Perhaps some senior executives in Glanbia would be interested in putting their stamp on the business.
The Dealer always like a left-field contender and for that we throw the floor open to Paul Finnerty, formerly of Larry Goodman’s ABP Group.
Finnerty was spotted at Dairy Day recently cosying up to a few dairy heads and I thought I spied him reading a copy of Dairying for Dummies.
Watch this space.
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