Press release -
Chr. Hansen announces departure of CFO Søren Westh Lonning
As announced in the recently published Q2 interim report, the Board of Directors of Chr. Hansen regrettably announces that CFO Søren Westh Lonning has decided to pursue his career outside of Chr. Hansen as CFO of a private equity backed, non-competitive company. Søren Westh Lonning has been with Chr. Hansen since 2007, and has been the CFO since 2015. He will leave his position at Chr. Hansen after the full-year report of the 2019/20 financial year. A search for a new CFO will begin immediately, and will consider both internal and external candidates.
Mauricio Graber, CEO of Chr. Hansen, said: “Søren has been a valued colleague in Chr. Hansen and a valued member of my leadership team. In his more than 12 years with Chr. Hansen, and the last 5 as CFO, he has left a very positive mark on the company and achieved outstanding results. I want to thank him for his time here, and his leadership and contributions will be missed. Most recently I have valued his contributions in leading the strategy review process together with me and in close collaboration with the corporate leadership team. I wish him the best of luck in the next step in his career.”
Søren Westh Lonning, CFO of Chr. Hansen, said: “I am truly grateful for the opportunities that I have been given in Chr. Hansen, and I will certainly miss many talented colleagues from the entire organization. I leave Chr. Hansen with a sense of accomplishment, and I believe the company is in great shape and with an exciting future ahead. I sincerely value the close collaboration with our CEO Mauricio Graber and the corporate leadership team. ”
Søren Westh Lonning will continue to serve on the Executive Board, together with CEO Mauricio Graber and CSO Thomas Schäfer, for the remainder of his tenure with Chr. Hansen, and his successor will replace him in the Executive Board. The Executive Board is appointed by the Board of Directors and is responsible for the day-to-day management within the guidelines and directions given by the Board of Directors.
Chr. Hansen is a leading, global bioscience company that develops natural solutions for the food, nutritional, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. We develop and produce cultures, enzymes, probiotics and natural colors for a rich variety of foods, confectionery, beverages, dietary supplements, animal feed, and plant protection. Our product innovation is based on around 40,000 microbial strains – we like to refer to them as “good bacteria”. Our solutions enable food manufacturers to produce more with less – while also reducing the use of chemicals and other synthetic additives – which makes our products highly relevant in today’s world. Sustainability is an integral part of Chr. Hansen’s vision to improve food and health. In 2019 Chr. Hansen was ranked as the world’s most sustainable company by Corporate Knights thanks to our strong sustainability efforts and our many collaborative partnerships with our customers. We have been delivering value to our partners – and, ultimately, end consumers worldwide – for over 145 years. We are proud that more than one billion people consume products containing our natural ingredients every day. Chr. Hansen was founded in 1874 and is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen.
