Rob Haward has been appointed Riverford Organic's new MD and will take over from Jack Slatter in the autumn, The Grocer can reveal.
Hayward is currently operations director and has already started taking on some of Slatter's responsibilities. He joined Riverford seven years ago and has been operations director for four.
Speaking to The Grocer, Haward said he did not wish to fundamentally change the business but would look to make improvements and extend Riverford's customer base from its core of 65,000 active customers to a much wider audience.
The handover plan has set off a chain of promotions within the company. Luke King, general manager at Riverford's Wash Farm, took up the role of operations director last week and James MacGregor, general manager at Riverford's Upper Norton farm, will fill King's role. MacGregor's role would be filled externally. "It's really important that we made that happen because it shows everyone there's a career to be had at Riverford," said Slatter.
Slatter joined Riverford on an interim basis for two years in October 2007 but his stewardship was subsequently extended as his experience as chairman and CEO of Soil Association Certification and MD of organic fresh produce supplier Organic Farmfoods was considered valuable.
During his leadership Slatter has aligned the branding of all of Riverford's individual farms under the Riverford Organic masterbrand across the company's marketing materials.
Hayward is currently operations director and has already started taking on some of Slatter's responsibilities. He joined Riverford seven years ago and has been operations director for four.
Speaking to The Grocer, Haward said he did not wish to fundamentally change the business but would look to make improvements and extend Riverford's customer base from its core of 65,000 active customers to a much wider audience.
The handover plan has set off a chain of promotions within the company. Luke King, general manager at Riverford's Wash Farm, took up the role of operations director last week and James MacGregor, general manager at Riverford's Upper Norton farm, will fill King's role. MacGregor's role would be filled externally. "It's really important that we made that happen because it shows everyone there's a career to be had at Riverford," said Slatter.
Slatter joined Riverford on an interim basis for two years in October 2007 but his stewardship was subsequently extended as his experience as chairman and CEO of Soil Association Certification and MD of organic fresh produce supplier Organic Farmfoods was considered valuable.
During his leadership Slatter has aligned the branding of all of Riverford's individual farms under the Riverford Organic masterbrand across the company's marketing materials.
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