Zespri ceo Tony Nowell is stepping down at the end of June a little more than a year into the job.

New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri said Lain Jager, its general manager, supply chain will take over as acting ceo from July 1. Zespri chairman, Craig Greenlees, said Nowell wishes to focus more widely on the development of the broader New Zealand food industry, the country’s growing international trade opportunities and personal community interests.

“Zespri has achieved a decade of extraordinary growth in revenues and returns since 1998 thanks to its great team, its superb product and its outstanding brand, together with its single point of entry marketing system,” Nowell said. “In the last 15 months, I have enjoyed my role in putting in place the structural and personnel changes within the company that will position it well to replicate that record of success in the decade ahead.

“The skilled and capable senior management team now in place will continue to execute the company’s clear strategic direction and achieve the challenging objectives its board and growers/shareholders have set.”

Greenlees thanked Nowell for his service and said an extensive search for a new ceo begins immediately. Jager has been at Zespri for 10 years and said his priorities while acting ceo will be to deliver grower returns at least NZ$0.65 above last year, to develop the capability of the Zespri team and to work on integrating better the supply chain.

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