Beston Global Food Company Limited has announced the appointment of Fabrizio Jorge as chief executive officer of the company.
Fabrizio is a highly credentialed senior executive with 25 years of global experience in the food and beverage industry and particularly in dairy products, across Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
He is Brazilian born and of Italian descent with fluency in five languages.Fabrizio holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Pontifica University in Sao Paulo, Brazil and is a graduate of the International Business School, University of California, USA and the Institute of Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Fabrizio is a familiar face within the Australian Dairy industry, having served from 2016 to 2018, as a Board Member of the Australian Dairy Industry Council and the Australian Dairy Products Federation where he has helped to shape the policy direction of Australia’s dairy industry over recent years.
Currently, Fabrizio continues to support Dairy Australia’s International Trade programmes.
Fabrizio started his working career with Nestlé in Brazil in 1997 and then worked with Nestlé in various executive positions across Asia, Oceania and Africa and the Middle East, including as Regional Supply Director with responsibility for Nestle’s dairy and nutraceuticals portfolio, based in Bangkok, Thailand.
He subsequently joined Fonterra Cooperative Limited in 2009 and over the course of the next 12 years, worked in a number of senior roles, based out of Auckland, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, Singapore and Melbourne to help build and manage the Fonterra diary ingredients business internationally, including as Director, Ingredients, Fonterra Australia and Managing Director, Fonterra Brands Thailand.
Since May 2021, Fabrizio has been the Chief Operating Officer of Bubs Australia Limited, overseeing significant growth into new markets in Asia and the USA.
The Chairman of BFC, Dr Roger Sexton AM said that the appointment of Mr Jorge as CEO of the Company was the result of an extensive executive search process which had identified a number of outstanding candidates for the position.
“The ability of the Company to attract a person of the calibre of Jorge, with his business skills and extensive international experience in the dairy industry, is a strong endorsement of the strategic direction of Beston and of the business plans which we have put in place”, said Sexton.
“Fabrizio’s extensive global experience in senior management roles across the dairy and food and beverage industries makes him an ideal person to lead Beston into its next stage of growth and development.”
Jorge will commence with Beston on 1April, 2022.
The Interim CEO, Darren Flew, will continue in the position until this time.
Flew was appointed as Interim CEO of Beston on 15 April 2021, when the former CEO, Jonathan Hicks took three months compassionate leave for family health reasons.
Dr Sexton said that the CEO executive search process had started following the subsequent resignation of Hicks in July 2021 but had been impeded by the continuation of Australia’s closed international borders, lockdowns and travel restrictions between states.
“The Board was nevertheless committed to ensuring that the normal procedures in an executive search process of this nature were followed and that the market was fully tested to ensure that Beston found the best leadership possible to take the Company forward with the implementation of the third stage of its ten-year business plan,” said Jorge.
“Beston has built a solid core business in a growing and dynamic sector. I am excited about the future of the Company and look forward to working with the Board and the management team as we focus on driving investment returns for our shareholders.
“With a leading product portfolio, and a continuing focus on product innovation in protein products and protein derivatives, the Group is well positioned for its next stage of growth and profitability.”