Mowi Scotland boss gains Ireland, loses Feed
Mowi Scotland managing director Ben Hadfield has been given added responsibility for Mowi’s Irish operations as part of an organisational restructure by the group.
The reshuffle also means Hadfield will no longer be chief operating officer of Mowi’s feed production business. That position will be filled by Atle Kvist, currently managing director of Mowi Feed.
The restructure, effective from January 1, comes six weeks after Mowi chief financial officer Ivan Vindheim stepped up to become chief executive of the world’s biggest salmon farmer following Alf-Helge Aarskog’s decision to resign.
‘Biological issues’
“Over the past few years, we have seen increasing biological issues and costs in our farming division,” said Vindheim in a market announcement.
“It is undoubtedly more challenging to be a farmer today than just a few years back. In order to meet these challenges, we have decided to strengthen the leadership resources in our Group Management Team.”
Mowi is dividing its current global farming division into three:
- Farming Norway
- Farming Scotland and Ireland
- Farming Americas and the Faroes (Chile, Canada and the Faroes)
Americas and the Faroes
Per-Roar Gjerde will be the chief operating officer of Farming Americas and the Faroes.
“He will also lead Farming Norway until we have found the right permanent candidate for this position,” stated Mowi.
“Per-Roar Gjerde has been with Mowi for almost 20 years and is a very experienced farmer. He has been MD of Region West, MD of Chile, COO Farming Norway and Chile, and COO Global Farming. He has also previously lived in Chile when he was MD of Chile.”
‘Our most experienced farmer’
Referring to Hadfield’s new position, Mowi stated: “He is our most experienced farmer in the UK and has held various positions in Mowi Farming Scotland since 2000, including being MD of Mowi Farming Scotland since 2016.”
The company said his successor at Mowi Feed, Atle Kvist, “is a very experienced feed executive with a strong proven track record, having previously been MD of EWOS Norway before joining Mowi in 2019”.
“I am delighted that Per-Roar Gjerde, Ben Hadfield and Atle Kvist have agreed to bring their extensive expertise and experience to these new positions,” said Vindheim.
“This will enable us to adopt an even more hands-on approach in managing our farming entities. We will now begin the job of finding the best candidate to run Mowi Farming Norway on a permanent basis.”
Management team
The announced changes to the organisation will not impact Mowi’s financial reporting structure.
The new group management team comprises:
- CEO: Ivan Vindheim
- CFO: Kristian Ellingsen
- COO Farming Americas and the Faroes, and interim COO Farming Norway: Per-Roar Gjerde
- COO Farming Scotland and Ireland: Ben Hadfield
- COO Sales & Marketing: Ola Brattvoll
- COO Feed: Atle Kvist
- Chief Technology Officer: Øyvind Oaland
- Chief HR Officer: Anne Lorgen Riise
- Chief Sustainability Officer: Catarina Martins
