Holstein UK has today (Tuesday, March 7) announced the appointment of Michael Halliwell as its group commercial director – a new position launched by the company.
The dairy consultancy said Halliwell will provide an “opportunity to further develop commercial strategies and areas of growth” when he joins the team on April 3.
Melanie Harmitt, chief executive of the Holstein UK group, said Michael was a “highly impressive candidate for the position of group commercial director”.
“His experience and knowledge of the industry, partnered with his commercial background, made him a great fit for the Holstein UK Group and we’re delighted to welcome him to our team,” she said.
Halliwell described the appointment as a “fantastic career opportunity” and said he looks forward to utilising his skills to “shape and implement the commercial strategic objectives” of Holstein UK.
“I look forward to further developing the portfolio of products and services across the Holstein UK Group, creating commercial offerings for both the membership and external stakeholders,” he said.
Michael Halliwell
Holstein UK said Halliwell has a strong commercial and sales background with a broad network within the industry.
He spent six years as the business development manager for Worldwide Sires and was recently in the role of commercial director for CattleEye Ltd., a tech start-up business.
Holstein UK said Halliwell also has experience in the genetics field, working with pedigree and focused commercial operations which have “given him knowledge of various production systems and business models required by the different dairy farming businesses“.
When he starts in his new role with Holstein UK, Halliwell will report to chief executive Harmitt and will work closely with the heads of departments including Janette Mathie and Dena Snidall, Cattle Information Service (CIS); Meurig James, National Bovine Data Centre (NBDC) and Hannah Williams, head of events and marketing.
Holstein UK
Also today, Holstein UK announced the opening of its new head office, Scope House, named after its former chief executive officer Sue Cope, who passed away last year.
“Sue was the driving force behind securing the new headquarters and dedicated so much time and effort into securing and refurbishing the building before her short battle with illness,” the company said.
All Holstein UK and NBDC office staff are now based at the new site, with the CIS teams remaining at Speir House until the laboratories are completed later in the year.
“The newly renovated headquarters, located at Hortonwood 33 in Telford, provides a spacious and contemporary working space for our teams, which will not only comfortably house all our office staff but will include a state of the art laboratory space for CIS,” the company said.
“We look forward to welcoming members to an open day later in the year,” it added.
On Monday (March 6), the company also paid tribute to a former employee, Henry Richardson, who died last week.
“We were deeply saddened to hear the news that our former colleague Henry Richardson passed away last week,” it said.
“Henry retired from the role of senior data analyst with the NBDC division of Holstein UK in 2020, having worked for the Society for over 10 years. Henry leaves his wife Jean and daughters Emma and Helen.
“Our thoughts are with Henry’s family and friends at this difficult time.”
