Steve Francis has been appointed as the new CEO of Tulip Ltd, taking over from Chris Thomas, effective from 5th September.
Francis will bring experience from the meat industry, notably four years working at Dutch slaughterhouse group, Vion Food Group, as well as experience of restructuring manufacturing companies.
He has worked for international companies such as McKinsey, PwC and Barclays, and most recently, was CEO of Danwood, where he turned a loss of more than DKK 80 million into a profit of more than DKK 50 million within the space of 12 months.
Francis’ appointment follows a difficult year for Danish Crown’s UK subsidiary, Tulip Ltd, which has included fierce competition in the retail market, increasing raw material prices and the loss of significant contracts.
“In the course of his career, our new CEO Steve Francis has on several occasions demonstrated that he is able to effect change within a short period of time. Over the summer, we have realised that there are significant gains to be made through more focused efforts and closer cooperation with the rest of the group. We want to regain our position as the preferred choice among consumers and customers in the key UK market. This task is now in the hands of Tulip Ltd’s new CEO,” said Jais Valeur, Danish Crown Group CEO.
“We would like to thank Chris Thomas for his efforts over the past three years, and I wish him all the best in the future.”
Francis added: “I am excited to be joining the leadership team at Tulip. Tulip is a great British business supported by a powerful parent & business partner in Danish Crown. I am convinced that working with Passion for Food, Passion for Farming and with pace, discipline and precision as a team we can overtake our rivals and return to our rightful position as the number one player in pork.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
