Ornua has announced the appointment of Simon Ball as the new managing director of Ornua Foods UK.
Ball will take over the role from Bill Hunter, who has been promoted to the position of finance director for Ornua’s Global Foods Division.
Ornua Foods UK is the largest supplier of pre-packed British and Irish hard cheese and owns Pilgrims Choice, the UK’s number two branded cheddar and Kerrygold, the UK’s number three block butter.
Ball will lead the growth and development of Ornua Foods UK from its Leek, Staffordshire headquarters.
“I am delighted to join Ornua Foods UK at what is an exciting time for both the business and the wider sector,” said Ball.
“Given the very challenging market environment for all in food and drink, it is clearly more important than ever for Ornua to build on its established reputation of delivering best-in-class efficiencies, customer service and category expertise to our retail customers.”
The new MD boasts extensive food manufacturing experience and was most recently business unit director at Greencore’s dedicated Marks & Spencer production site in Northampton.
Prior to this, Ball has held a number of senior management roles, including head of trading for fresh produce & horticulture at Marks & Spencer; MD of a division of IPL, and MD of two divisions of the William Jackson Food Group. He also held country operations manager roles in Morocco with two fresh produce organisations, including a division of Fyffes.
“I am confident we have the key fundamentals in place to enhance our position and accelerate sustainable growth, namely great people, products, partners, and state-of-the-art processing facilities,” added Ball.
“As such, I’m looking forward to working with our team here in Leek, and the wider Ornua team, to grow and develop the business further.”
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