Dairy giant Arla has appointed internal candidates to fill three positions in its international business unit in a move which it says highlights career development opportunities and talent available in the company.
Arla has named Peter Hallberg, currently serving as managing director of Arla Bangladesh, as the new vice president of Arla Foods Saudi Arabia, effective 1 April 2023.
In 1992, Hallberg joined Arla in Copenhagen in the finance division and then in 1998 started handling export sales.
He assumed the role of national sales manager in Saudi Arabia in 2000 and then took up the position of general manager of Arla Kuwait in 2003, where he established the local joint venture.
In 2010, Hallberg stepped in as export manager for rest-of-world before assuming the role of managing director in Bangladesh in 2014.
Commenting on Hallberg's appointment, Kim Villadsen, SVP MENA said, "Peter has a very impressive Arla career and track record behind him. He is known for his excellent leadership skills and for building very strong and high-performing organisations delivering impressive results.
"I am very confident that Peter is a perfect match for continuing our growth journey in KSA and together with our local KSA LT, will take the business to new heights."
Jonathan Grant
Elsewhere, Jonathan Grant, previously vice-president of retail sales in Arla Sweden, will join Arla Rest-of-MENA Markets as the new vice-president effective 17 April 2023.
Grant is an experienced professional who joined Arla in 2015 after 15 years with P&G in various sales, marketing and leadership roles in the UK, Switzerland, Finland and Sweden.
He led the Swedish Fresh Dairy portfolio at Arla before stepping in as vice-president of sales in Sweden, responsible for leading the creation and development of the retail sales function for four years.
Commenting on Grant's appointment, Villadsen said, "Heading up a market cluster of Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, our distributor sales markets as well as our Early Life Nutrition business, Jon will be focusing on identifying new growth and profit possibilities but also ensuring we have the right go to market models and setups across his cluster.
"Despite being new to MENA, I am confident that Jon can leverage his substantial international and commercial experience to step-change this part of our business.”
Laurent Ponty
Laurent Ponty, currently serving as managing director of Arla's Indonesian business, will replace Peter Hallberg as the managing director of Arla Bangladesh.
Ponty will relocate to Bangladesh with his family and begin his new role on 1 April 2023.
He is a company veteran, having worked in Europe as category director MYPC in the European team, category director in Arla Foods Denmark and various positions in Denmark, the UK and the Middle East
Bas Padberg, vice president and head of Arla South East Asia, stated, "Laurent started in his latest role as managing director of Arla Foods Indonesia in April 2021.
"Since then he has successfully changed the strategy, business model and organisation and delivered strong results in the first full year of implementation in 2022."
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest A-Brands news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
