Richard Allen will take up his new role from 1 May 2026, replacing outgoing CEO Miles Hurrell, who will remain with Fonterra in an advisory capacity until September 2026 to assist with the “leadership transition”.
Fonterra’s chairman, Peter McBride, called Allen an “exceptional leader” who will bring a “strong connection with farmer shareholders and customers” to the position, as well as a “deep knowledge” of Fonterra’s global operations and markets.
Allen has worked in a wide variety of roles at the Auckland-based business over an 18-year spell, having first joined in 2008 as a business graduate.
During his rise through the ranks, he has taken on diverse roles across Fonterra’s global operations, including vice president of China foodservice in Shanghai, and president of Americas and Europe in Chicago.
“Richard is passionate about our Co-operative,” said McBride. “His most recent role is president, global ingredients, responsible for Fonterra’s ingredients sales, optimisation, risk management, trading and global manufacturing.
“He joined Fonterra as a graduate in 2008 and since then his career has spanned our global supply chain. He led our farmer-facing business Farm Source for five years, has worked in China as vice president of our foodservice business, was the founding chief executive of MyMilk, and more recently served as president, Atlantic, based in Chicago, responsible for relationships with a number of our global key accounts.”
Prior to this latest announcement, Allen had been working as the company’s president of global markets ingredients, a role he acceded to in August 2024.
Outgoing CEO Hurrell has spent close to eight years leading Fonterra and is himself a long-serving company executive, having also joined the co-operative in 2008 as vice president of global sourcing.
On his new appointment, Allen added: “I’ve built my career with Fonterra and understand the important role the Co-op plays both for farmers here in New Zealand and our customers around the world.”
“I’m committed to maintaining the momentum in our performance, focused delivery of strategy and financial discipline that has been developed over recent years. Fonterra has a strong platform to build from and I’m excited by our prospects as we move forward as a New Zealand farmer-owned global B2B dairy provider.”
