Chr. Hansen has new CFO

GLOBAL provider of natural ingredients Chr Hansen has designated Søren Westh Lonning to be its next chief financial officer.

Mr Lonning who is currently managing director responsible for South West Europe and vice president for Finance for the EMEA region, will take on the new role effective 1 August 2015.

Søren Westh Lonning (Photo: Chr. Hansen)

From 2007 to 2013, Mr Lonning held several posts at Chr. Hansen, including vice president for Business Finance and Sourcing, finance director for the Cultures & Enzymes and Health & Nutrition Divisions, and director of Corporate Development. Before joining Chr. Hansen, he was an investment manager for Axcel Private Equity, and prior to that he was an associate at McKinsey & Co. He holds an M.Sc. in Finance and Accounting (cand.merc.fir.) from Copenhagen Business School.

“I am extremely excited about assuming the position of CFO of Chr. Hansen after close to eight years with the company. Chr. Hansen is a truly fantastic company with many attractive growth opportunities and great employees, and I look forward to continuing being part of the future development of the company as a member of Chr. Hansen’s Executive Board,” he said.

The Chr. Hansen Executive Board will consist of CEO Cees de Jong, EVP Knud Vindfeldt and CFO Søren Westh Lonning beginning August 1.

“Søren has a strong financial background from national as well as international positions, a great knowledge of Chr. Hansen and its products, and broad leadership experience, all competencies that are well suited to the job as CFO, and I am therefore very happy that we are able to appoint a highly qualified internal successor,” said CEO Cees de Jong.