Press release -
New CFO for Arla
Arla Foods is pleased to announce the appointment of Natalie Knight as new CFO and member of Arla Foods Executive Management Group in January 2016. Ms Knight currently holds the position of Senior Vice President Finance in the adidas Group, where she is responsible for an international team of 200, providing strategic and financial support to the Group’s Global Operations, Indirect Procurement and other global functions.
“Natalie has a proven track record of performance management in a global FMCG company. She has strong leadership, great communication skills and from her experience in Investor Relations, she has great capabilities in building relationships. I look forward to welcoming Natalie to Arla”, says Peder Tuborgh, Arla CEO.
Natalie commented, “I am excited to join such a highly respected company and management team. I look forward to bringing my experience with leading brands to a company committed to grow strongly in this direction.”
Natalie Knight originally comes from Seattle and graduated with a bachelors degree in Business and German from the University of Arizona. She moved to Germany in 1992 and completed her Masters programme in Economics while working at the US Embassy in Berlin. She has 15 years of Investor Relations experience from her time at the Bankgesellschaft Berlin, BASF and adidas.
Natalie joined the adidas Group in 1999 and has a held a variety of senior Finance positions including Vice President of Investor Relations and Mergers and Acquisitions, CFO adidas North America (the Group’s biggest subsidiary) and Senior Vice President for Brand and Sales Finance.
Natalie is married and has an 11 year old daughter. She enjoys a very active lifestyle including skiing, running and travel.
In addition to the financial and legal teams at Arla, Natalie will also have global responsibility for IT.
Topics
Arla Foods is a global dairy company and co-operative owned by dairy farmers circa 3,000 of whom are British.
Dating back to 1881, Arla’s purpose is to secure the highest value for its farmers’ milk, while creating opportunities for their growth. With production facilities in 11 countries and sales offices in a further 30, Arla is the world’s sixth largest dairy company and largest supplier of organic dairy products. Arla has a total of more than 18,000 colleagues and its products are sold under the well-known brands Arla®, Lurpak® and Castello® in more than 100 countries.
Arla Foods UK is the largest dairy company in the country and is home to leading dairy brands Anchor, Cravendale, and Lactofree. It has a turnover of £2.3 billion. As well as being number one in fresh liquid milk, butter, spreads and cream, Arla is the UK’s largest cheese manufacturer. It has also built the world’s largest fresh milk facility located at Aylesbury and has plans for it to be the first zero carbon site of its kind. The UK business has a team of approximately 3,500 colleagues located at its dairies, distribution centres and head office.