Dierk Overheu, Nidera CEO
Dierk Overheu will begin his duties as CEO on June 1.
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS — Nidera, a subsidiary of COFCO group, announced on April 20 that Dierk Overheu will become chief executive officer on June 1. He will take over from Ton van der Laan who, as previously announced, will leave at the end of June.

Until Laan’s retirement, Overheu will report to Partick Yu, chairman of the supervisory board, beginning May 17. 


"I am delighted to welcome Dierk to Nidera,” Yu said. “He brings extensive experience both in trading and management, and is very familiar with our business. The supervisory board has appointed Dierk with a clear mandate to lead Nidera as a strong, focused and well-governed trading company and build on its many strengths to deliver sustained growth."

Dierk spent 40 years at Alfred C. Toepfer, now known as ADM Germany,  a German-based commodity trading firm. He moved from trading to vice-chairman of the board and executive member of many of the principal operating subsidiaries, including trading director of Feedstuffs.Overheu serves as managing director of Kincannon & Reed, LLC. His educational background includes a bachelor’s of business administration from the University of Zurich Graduate School of Business, as well as the Executive Development Program, Harvard Business School and Finance Management for Executives, University of St. Gallen Business School.

COFCO completed the purchase of remaining shares of Noble Agri in March, and renamed the business COFCO Agri. That business is also led by a former ADM executive, Matt Jensen.