Norwegian salmon producer Mowi has made changes to its organizational structure and its group management as it looks to increase its focus on its farming operations.
“Over the past few years, we have seen increasing biological issues and costs in our farming division. 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 CEO Ivan Vindheim said.
Mowi is also dividing its current global farming division into the three entities: Farming Norway; Farming Scotland and Ireland; and Farming Americas and the Faroes (Chile, Canada and the Faroes).
Per-Roar Gjerde, who has been with Mowi for almost 20 years, has been made COO of Farming Americas and the Faroes. He will also lead Farming Norway until Mowi finds a permanent candidate for the position. Gjerde’s pervious Mowi roles include Managing Director of Region West, Managing Director of Chile, COO Farming Norway and Chile, and COO Global Farming.
Ben Hadfield takes on the position of COO Farming Scotland and Ireland. Hadfield has held various positions in Mowi Farming Scotland since 2000, and has been Managing Director of Mowi Farming Scotland since 2016.
Atle Kvist steps up as the new COO Feed, succeeding Hadfield. Kvist is currently Managing Director of Mowi Feed and before joining Mowi this year was Managing Director of EWOS Norway.
“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. 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,” Vindheim said.
These new changes will be effective from 1 January 2020, when the Group Management Team will consist of: Ivan Vindheim (CEO), Kristian Ellingsen (CFO), Per-Roar Gjerde (COO Farming Americas and the Faroes, and interim COO Farming Norway), Ben Hadfield (COO Farming Scotland and Ireland), Ola Brattvoll (COO Sales & Marketing), Atle Kvist (COO Feed), Øyvind Oaland (Chief Technology Officer), Anne Lorgen Riise (Chief HR Officer), and Catarina Martins (Chief Sustainability Officer).
Photo courtesy of Mowi
