Legros, 55, has nearly 30 years of experience with Danone.
After marketing and sales in France (Evian, Amora), Japan and China, he was appointed CEO of Danone's fresh produce business in China in 1996. He then became Director of marketing at LU France, then CEO of Danone products in the Czech Republic in 2002 and president of Danone Japan in 2006.
Legros then headed the dairy business resulting from the merger of Danone Industries and Unimilk in Russia.
As a subsidiary of the Sodiaal cooperative, Candia is the leading French milk producer, with nearly 1.8bn liters of fluid milk/cream, and the second biggest producer of butter, at 85,000 tonnes. It has 1,500 employees and seven sites.
Switch of positions for Fonterra CFO
Fonterra Co-operative Group has appointed Lukas Paravicini to the role of chief operating officer, global consumer and foodservice from June 1, 2017.
Paravicini is currently Fonterra’s chief financial officer and replaces Jacqueline Chow who was appointed to the role in June 2016. Fonterra said Chow would lead Fonterra’s global consumer and foodservice business unit until the first half of 2017, in the lead up to her return to Australia to pursue a board career.
Paravicini will continue as CFO until June 1, 2017.
He has been with Fonterra for more than three years, having previously worked at Nestlé.
New chair of Westland Milk Products elected
Westland Milk Products, New Zealand’s second biggest dairy co-operative, has a new chairman, farmer and businessman Pete Morrison.
Morrison has been a Westland Milk Products shareholder since the creation of the co-operative as an independent dairy company in 2001, supplying milk from farm properties in Canterbury and the West Coast.
He was first elected to the board by shareholders in 2015, and his election as chairman follows the resignation of Matt O’Regan in November 2016.
Morrison acknowledged that Westland had performed poorly in the previous financial year and that its payout was, then, below the break-even line for shareholders and less than competitive compared with those of other New Zealand companies.
In addition to his years as a supplier to Westland, Morrison has owned and operated several companies, mainly in agriculture but also including gold mining, manufacturing, forestry, aviation and a mechanical workshop.
New managing director at FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria
Ben Langat has been appointed managing director of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC with effect from March 13, 2017. He will report to Roel van Neerbos, chief operating officer, consumer products Europe, Middle East and Africa, and he will be located in Lagos, Nigeria.
Until June 2016, Langat was the managing director of Nigerian Bottling Company Limited, Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Company.
Langat, originally from Kenya, has more than 24 years work experience spanning various senior management roles at Unilever Kenya, Malawi and Ghana respectively. He also held the position of finance director of Nigeria Bottling Company from June 2009 to October 2012.
He succeeds Rahul Colaco, who has taken over the executive director, business group China role.
New chair at Bellamy’s
Bellamy’s Australia Limited has appointed Rodd Peters as chairman of the board. Peters was voted in as a director of the company at an extraordinary general meeting held February 28.
Before the meeting was held, Rob Woolley resigned as a director and chairman of the board.
Michael Wadley was named interim chairman of the board, only to be removed from the board following voting on the resolutions for election and removal of directors.