The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has announced three senior operational appointments, completing its newly restructured six-strong leadership team.
The new appointments are:
- Chief Technical Officer, Richard Laverick, who will lead all R&D and knowledge exchange work undertaken for the dairy, pork, beef & lamb, horticulture, potato and cereals & oilseeds sectors.
- Chief Strategy Officer, Tom Hind, who will be responsible for leading on strategic planning, overseeing the relationship management with AHDB’s six sector advisory boards, and for developing AHDB’s Market Intelligence offering.
- Chief Communications and Market Development Officer, Christine Watts, who will lead a “more joined up” approach on AHDB’s export and domestic market development work and to bring in a “step change” around making AHDB’s advice and information more accessible both via digital and more traditional channels.
The new three join AHDB Chief Executive, Jane King; Chief Finance Officer, Chis Goodwin, and Chief HR Officer, Rebecca Geraghty, all of whom are already in post.
Backgrounds
Richard Laverick joined AHDB in 2013 to establish a regional team and implement a network of monitor farms and arable business groups across the country. He was previously with ADAS for more than 20 years.
Tom Hind has a “strong track record of leadership and strategy development and interaction with senior decision makers in Government, EU institutions and major UK food companies”. He was most recently the agriculture director for Tesco, prior to which he spent 15 years with the National Farmers Union.
Christine Watts has built a career in marketing and communications for global IT organisations and more recently with the NHS at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and then Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust. Growing up on a Warwickshire livestock farm, she was chair of her local Young Farmer’s Club and is now married to an arable farmer growing more than 2000 acres of cereals and potatoes in Northamptonshire.
Headline image shows (left to right) Richard, Tom and Christine