Arla Foods is to lose its deputy CEO Hanne Sondergaard as the "iron lady of dairy" is to take on a global role at parent company Arla Foods amba.
Sondergaard has held a number of roles at Arla Foods UK and its Danish parent, Arla Foods amba, since 1990. In her current role, she is in charge of business strategy and communications, assisting CEO Peter Lauritzen. She also heads a 25-strong team in her additional role as business group director for milk procurement, a role she took over from Peter Walker in 2007.
As of 1 November, Sondegaard will take over from Jesper Colding as senior vice president category butters, spreads and margarines within Arla amba's global categories and operations business group.
The transfer was a "horizontal move that would provide Sondergaard with global experience," according to a spokeswoman for Arla Foods. Based in Aarhus, Denmark, she will be responsible for driving growth of the Lurpak brand and the butters, spreads and margarines category globally.
Sondegaard had "played a key role in helping Arla UK achieve its strategy of securing a sustainable supply of raw milk for the business and bringing members of the Arla Foods Milk Partnership closer to their processing partner," the spokeswoman added. She was a "very strong character but a very fair character" who "would be a challenge to replace", said Ian Potter, dairy quota broker at Ian Potter Associates.
A successor had not yet been appointed but a replacement would be announced in due course, the spokeswoman said.
Sondegaard is current chairman of the Dairy UK Strategy Committee, a post she has held for about two years. News of her exit from the UK follows the announcement earlier this month that Arla plans to grow its UK turnover by 25% to roughly £1.8bn by 2015. It also wants to increase consumer awareness of Arla itself which owns the Lurpak, Anchor, Cravendale, Apetina, Lactofree and Castello brands over the same period.
Sondergaard has held a number of roles at Arla Foods UK and its Danish parent, Arla Foods amba, since 1990. In her current role, she is in charge of business strategy and communications, assisting CEO Peter Lauritzen. She also heads a 25-strong team in her additional role as business group director for milk procurement, a role she took over from Peter Walker in 2007.
As of 1 November, Sondegaard will take over from Jesper Colding as senior vice president category butters, spreads and margarines within Arla amba's global categories and operations business group.
The transfer was a "horizontal move that would provide Sondergaard with global experience," according to a spokeswoman for Arla Foods. Based in Aarhus, Denmark, she will be responsible for driving growth of the Lurpak brand and the butters, spreads and margarines category globally.
Sondegaard had "played a key role in helping Arla UK achieve its strategy of securing a sustainable supply of raw milk for the business and bringing members of the Arla Foods Milk Partnership closer to their processing partner," the spokeswoman added. She was a "very strong character but a very fair character" who "would be a challenge to replace", said Ian Potter, dairy quota broker at Ian Potter Associates.
A successor had not yet been appointed but a replacement would be announced in due course, the spokeswoman said.
Sondegaard is current chairman of the Dairy UK Strategy Committee, a post she has held for about two years. News of her exit from the UK follows the announcement earlier this month that Arla plans to grow its UK turnover by 25% to roughly £1.8bn by 2015. It also wants to increase consumer awareness of Arla itself which owns the Lurpak, Anchor, Cravendale, Apetina, Lactofree and Castello brands over the same period.
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