Roelof Joosten next CEO of FrieslandCampina

ROELOF Joosten will assume the position of chief executive officer for Royal FrieslandCampina beginning 1 June 2015.  He replaces Cees ’t Hart, who has decided to move to a new role as president and CEO of Carlsberg Group in Denmark.

A member of the FrieslandCampina Executive Board since 2012, Mr Joosten is currently the CEO of the FrieslandCampina Ingredients business group. He joined the company in 2004 as managing director of operating company FrieslandCampina Domo, which specialises in producing infant nutrition and related ingredients, before his appointment to the Executive Board.

Roelof Joosten 

Prior to joining the company, he worked for Quest International (ICI) from 1998 and 2004, leaving after serving as regional vice-president for Europe. He took various executive marketing and sales positions, including in Germany and the UK, at Uniqema and Crosfield, subsidiaries of Unilever and subsequently of ICI, from 1985 to 1998.

Before he became CEO in 2009, Mr Hart served as chairman of the Board of Royal Friesland Foods N.V. upon his appointment on 1 May 2008. Some of his achievements include steering the company through a merger with Campina B.V. at the end of the same year and overseeing the successful integration of the two dairy companies and cooperatives. He also devised and managed the roll-out of the group’s route2020 strategy.

Under Mr Hart’s leadership, the company’s revenue rose to 11.4 billion euros from 8.2 billion euros. The firm achieved substantial organic growth in Asia, particularly in China and Hong Kong. It acquired Alaska Milk Corporation in the Philippines, and in Europe took over a number of cheese companies. Since 2009, FrieslandCampina has invested nearly 1.9 billion euros, about 70% of which is in the Netherlands, to boost capacity and quality further in preparation for the abolition of the EU milk quota for dairy farmers in April 2015.

Mr Hart is chairman of the Dutch Dairy Association (NZO), a member of the Supervisory Board of KLM Group and a member of the Executive Board of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW).  Before joining FrieslandCampina, he worked for Unilever. He headed the Agri & Food top team in the context of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs’ top sectors policy between 2011 and 2014.