New Strategy Directors for Horticulture, Dairy and Cereals & Oilseeds have been announced by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).
Steve Tones, previously Head of Business Development for horticulture (HDC) is to become the Strategy Director for Horticulture, Martin Grantley-Smith will be Strategy Director for Cereals & Oilseeds and Amanda Ball will be Strategy Director for Dairy. All three are internal promotions and will start in their new roles on Monday 5 October.
The three new Strategy Directors join a further two Directors already in post – Mick Sloyan for Pork and Rob Clayton for Potatoes. The recruitment of the sixth Strategy Director for Beef & Lamb will be completed in early October to replace Nick Allen, who is AHDB’s new Market Development Director.
The six sector Strategy Directors are key members of AHDB’s senior management team and will report into Tom Hind who was recently announced as AHDB’s Chief Strategy Officer. They have a pivotal role as the ‘glue’ between the *Sector Boards and the operational parts of the organisation, ensuring that what the Sector Boards have agreed within their business plans is delivered by AHDB’s operational teams. Freed up from having to directly manage large numbers of staff, the Strategy Directors’ roles will focus on extensive liaison both internally and externally with levy payers and key stakeholders.
Rebecca Geraghty, AHDB Chief HR Officer, said: “I am pleased to welcome Amanda, Steve and Martin into these important roles. They will be a primary point of contact for our levy payers and Sector Boards and I expect them to have impact and influence on our organisation through their knowledge and skills.”