Westland appoints new Chief Operations Officer

MEDIA RELEASE

06 July 2017

Westland appoints new Chief Operations Officer

Westland Milk Products Chief Executive Toni Brendish has continued her drive to add depth and strength to the dairy co-operative’s management team with the appointment of a new Chief Operations Officer, Craig Betty.

It is the second new appointment to Westland’s Senior Management Team (SMT) following the announcement of Gary Yu taking up the role of General Manager, China.

Brendish says Betty’s appointment will bring considerable operations experience to the Hokitika based company.

“Craig comes to us with extensive experience in the dairy sector. He has a proven record for getting the very best performance out of the operations side of the business in terms of meeting financial goals, achieving continuous improvement and bringing his teams on board with the company’s vision and business strategies.”

Since commencing as Westland’s CEO in September 2016, Brendish has worked to improve the co-operative’s efficiency and cut costs, while strengthening its core nutritionals market and bringing in a strong focus on mutually beneficial partnerships with key commercial customers in priority markets such as China.

“Craig’s appointment is part of that focus on absolute efficiency in terms of our operations practice. He has the skills and experience to ensure effective productivity, and a high focus on safety, quality and sustainability, which we need as the foundation to the work we are doing to build greater flexibility into our production stream, grow our markets and bring a more competitive return back to our shareholders.”

Westland’s current divisions manufacturing, quality and supply chain will all come under Betty’s areas of responsibility. He takes up his role 10 July and will reside in Hokitika.

Prior to joining Westland Betty was Regional General Manager Operations for the lower North Island for Fonterra and has had a career with Fonterra dating back to 2002. Prior to that he worked for such companies as Mainland Meats, Heinz Wattie, Huttons and Glaxo Pharmaceuticals.

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