The restructure will see CBH Grain move to a model based on major geographic regions with each customer area led by a regional manager.
From November, Sean Cowman will become regional manager for the Middle East and Africa. Cowman is currently wheat marketing manager and joined CBH in 2010 after extensive experience in international sales and marketing including time with Kailis & France Foods and Sumich Group.
Peter Elliott has been appointed regional manager for Europe and the Americas. Peter is currently protein and oilseeds marketing manager and joined CBH in 2008 with a strong background in marketing, including experience with several major food companies handling their North Asian markets and in Japan with one of the world’s largest trading houses.
Mike Karube will continue in his current role as regional manager for Japan, based in Tokyo, and Wallace Chang will continue as regional manager, North Asia, based in Hong Kong. Leith Teakle also continues as regional manager, South East Asia & Sub Continent.
CBH Grain Head of Marketing Tom Puddy said since the deregulation of the Australian wheat export market began in 2008, CBH Grain had serviced its export customers via a hybrid structure of commodity managers and regional managers.
“This has worked well while the Australian market has transitioned to a deregulated environment,” Puddy said. “To continue to manage our growth, we need to adapt our customer service model to market requirements and add further value to our unique grower-owned supply chain.
“Since deregulation, we have doubled our export volume and tripled our customer base which has been an extraordinary effort by our marketing team, especially considering the larger scale and resources of our global competitors.
“Our customer base is becoming more mature with significantly increased numbers of repeat customers compared to the early days, when more market discovery work was required.
“As we continue to grow, we need to optimize our structure to best service our existing long term customers while leveraging off the success and market penetration already achieved by our Regional Managers in Japan, North Asia and South East Asia & Sub Continent.”
