Fonterra finds successor for Theo Spierings

New Zealander Miles Hurrel succeeds the Dutch Theo Spiering as CEO of dairy cooperative Fonterra. Hurrel had been interim CEO for some time, but has now been permanently appointed as final boss.

Spierings was the CEO of Fonterra for many years, but about 1 year ago he announced his departure. In August, the Dutch CEO finally stopped at Fonterra and he was temporarily succeeded by Hurrel. The New Zealander can now stay on permanently; the board of the dairy cooperative is satisfied with its performance over the past few months.

CEO awaits a big challenge
Hurrel has been active at Fonterra since 2009 and held various positions during those years; now he will be responsible for New Zealand's largest company. He is also royally rewarded for this, because his annual salary is $1,95 million (converted that is €1,16 million) and can be even higher due to bonuses. By the way, he earns considerably less than Spierings; his annual salary was $2017 million in 2,5. 

The new CEO will face a significant challenge in the coming years to make Fonterra profitable again; in the past financial year, the cooperative recorded a substantial loss of $196 million† Fonterra thus wrote red numbers for the first time in history. 

This article is about New Zealand dollars. 

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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