25 January 2018
DR SUZAN HORST JOINS SYNLAIT LEADERSHIP TEAM
Synlait (NZX: SML; ASX: SM1) will welcome Dr Suzan Horst to the Senior Leadership Team on 1 April as Director of Quality, Regulatory and Laboratory Services.
Managing Director and CEO John Penno says Dr Horst is a leading authority in the global dairy industry and has much to offer Synlait.
“Suzan’s executive experience with large multinational dairy companies complements the breadth of leadership and commercial capability we already have in our senior team,” says Mr Penno.
“Our organisation will be in an even stronger position as a result of Suzan’s expertise, which is defined by her extensive oversight of food safety in infant formula and fresh consumer dairy products.”
“Suzan’s role is significant and carries considerable responsibility across our value chain,” says Mr Penno.
“Having the right food safety systems and risk management in place throughout the business is critical.”
“Not only do we repeatedly test all facilities, raw materials and finished products, but we also have a full quality assurance and traceability programme for everything we produce.”
Synlait’s quality testing laboratory, which was commissioned in 2015 and consists of chemistry and microbiology laboratories, carries out almost 200,000 tests a year.
“Our on-site laboratory gives us greater control and visibility around our products, as well as the benefit of having substantial technical competence within the organisation,” adds Mr Penno.
Synlait also plays a leading role in providing market access for customers and securing regulatory approval for products, which means Dr Horst’s position will also have an international regulatory focus.
“As we become a more diversified and balanced business, Suzan will ensure we continue to have the right capability in all of these areas.”
“This underpins the integrity and confidence in food safety we provide to not just our customers, but their consumers as well,” says Mr Penno.
Dr Horst says “I feel really honoured to join the Synlait team. The company has an impressive track record over the last decade and has exciting plans for the future”.
“It’s great that sustaining the high performance of quality, regulatory and laboratory services is defined by the senior team as a critical factor for the ongoing success of the company, especially as our portfolio becomes more diversified.”
“I look forward to supporting the company in building and maintaining solid quality systems that result in safe products and highly satisfied customers,” says Dr Horst.
Dr Horst is currently Director Quality Affairs, Business Group EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) for FrieslandCampina. She has held other senior roles since joining them in 2005, including Director Corporate QA, crisis and issue management and Corporate Quality Assurance Manager.
Prior to joining FrieslandCampina, Dr Horst was Global Food Safety Competence Manager for Nutreco B V and lectured agricultural economics and food safety before that.
Dr Horst holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Animal Husbandry from the Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, part of which involved study at Massey University in New Zealand.
For more information contact:
Dan Walraven
Communications Manager, Synlait Milk
P: +64 3 373 3069
E: Daniel.walraven@synlait.com