The board of Northern Foods has reached a mutual agreement with Pat O’Driscoll that she will step down as chief executive in order to pursue opportunities outside the company. 

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O’Driscoll joined Northern in March 2004 and has led Northern Foods through a period of transformation, where poor results have seen the company embark on a swath of non-core divestures. These have included the NFT business, which was sold in August 2006, and the chilled pastry, flour milling, speciality bread and cakes businesses, which were disposed of in January 2007.


“Since arriving at Northern Foods three years ago, I have completed an extensive restructuring, including the sale of 40% of the business and the development of a high quality management team able to meet our customers’ service standards. Today Northern Foods is a simpler, more resilient and more competitive business and I believe it is the right time for me to move on,” Pat O’Driscoll commented.


Stefan Barden, who currently serves as executive director of the chilled and bakery divisions, will replace her on 5 February 2007.


Before coming to Northern Foods, Barden worked at Unilever, McKinsey, Iceland and Heinz.
 
Commenting on the appointment, Anthony Hobson, chairman of Northern Foods, said: “Our priorities going forward are to grow the business in our chosen markets and to drive operational performance and I am pleased to welcome Stefan as our new chief executive. Since joining Northern Foods, he has successfully delivered a real improvement in the performance of our Chilled business and this, combined with his understanding of Northern Foods and a strong track record in the food industry, means he is well positioned to deliver value for our customers and our shareholders.”

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