National Pig Association CEO Zoe Davies is to leave the trade body this summer after 14 years of “unstinting service”.
Davies, who has spent the past eight years as CEO of the organisation, will leave the NPA in July to take up a new post as the NFU’s East Anglia regional director, starting in August.
A vocal advocate for the pig industry, Davies has been particularly prominent over the past year as the sector grappled with a growing crisis caused by a backlog of more than 100,000 pigs on farms.
NPA chairman Rob Mutimer described her as an “absolute industry legend” who had made a “huge impact” during her time at NPA, “fighting the industry’s corner tirelessly and effectively on numerous policy and supply chain issues and, recently, showing tremendous leadership during the pig industry crisis”.
The pig sector owed her a huge debt of gratitude, he added. “The board is very sorry to see Zoe go, but she departs with our very best wishes for her future role and huge thanks on behalf of everyone connected to the pig industry for the monumental shift she has put in over the years.”
Davies had “worked incredibly hard to represent the pig sector, and, with her team, has delivered so much on behalf of producers and the wider industry”, he pointed out.
“Her knowledge, drive, passion for the industry and leadership skills are second-to-none and she is hugely respected both inside and outside the pig industry.”
The NPA will now start the process of recruiting a replacement.
The decision to move on had “not been an easy one to make, but I honestly feel that now is the right time for me to make this change personally and for the NPA”, Davies said.
“I won’t be going too far. I am very much looking forward to the challenges my new role with the NFU will bring, but I am exceptionally sad to be leaving this amazing industry that I have been involved in for the last 27 years.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with my amazing team at NPA, all the producer, allied industry and other specialists on our Pig Industry Group (and previously PG and AIG), and, of course, with our members.
“The NPA has a bright future with the fantastic team already in place and I’m confident that the board will, over the coming weeks, make the right decisions as to how to move the organisation forward.”
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