Britain’s biggest dairy company Arla Foods has announced the appointment of Duncan Malyon as its new UK commercial director. It follows the appointment of Ash Amirahmadi as UK managing director in June.

Malyon currently works at Camelot and brings with him a breadth of experience across all retail formats. He has a track record of leadership and a strong entrepreneurial mindset, all of which are valued highly by the farmer-owned cooperative.

Managing director, Ash Amirahmadi said: “I am very pleased to welcome Duncan to the Arla team. Duncan has a deep understanding of the UK retail market, the sales fundamentals, and a track record of building strategic customer relationships.

“In particular, driving category growth through point-of-purchase solutions in a rapidly evolving OMNI channel. He is passionate about developing commercial teams, building capability and developing talent. He will significantly strengthen our leadership team and help us as we transform the Arla business.“

“Arla is committed to developing the dairy category and building a sustainable future for our farmer-owners. We have invested more than £500 million in our supply chain and driven category growth with our customers.

We have focussed on driving needs based innovations like Arla skyr, Arla BOB, Arla Protein, Starbucks and more recently building capability in the growing sales channels.

“Duncan will accelerate this effort through working closely with our marketing and supply chain teams both adding category value and reducing costs via end to end value chain solutions.”

‘An exciting move’

Duncan Malyon added: “I am delighted to be joining the Arla team. The synergies between my ambitions and those of Arla as a farmer-owned cooperative are what makes this move so exciting for me.

“I believe that my experience in putting the customer and consumer at the heart of the commercial focus and forward thinking ambitions in digital, retail and multi-channel business aligns well with Arla’s own growth ambitions.

“Together with the Arla team, I look forward to continuing to deliver in an ever-increasing consumer driven grocery market.”

Duncan joins Arla from Camelot where he is a member of the executive board, responsible for designing and implementing new strategies in the retail channel and has held positions including retail director and senior vice president for Camelot Global.

Duncan has built his sales experience in leading commercial roles at Kraft, Molson Coors Brewery. He is expected to join Arla by June 2019.