The CBH Group board has appointed acting chief executive officer Ben Macnamara as its new CEO.
CBH chairman Simon Stead said Mr Macnamara's appointment was the outcome of an extensive international recruitment process that included an impressive field of internal and external candidates.
"The board is pleased to appoint an internal candidate, in Mr Macnamara as the group's 11th CEO," Mr Stead said.
"Ben's strong track record and proven leadership capabilities, further demonstrated in recent months as acting CEO, made him a clear choice in the board's final decision to fill the CEO position on a permanent basis.
"The board is looking forward to working with Ben to build on our co-operative's great history.
"Ben is an outstanding executive with more than 20 years' experience working across investment advisory roles and several roles within CBH including Strategy, Planning, Business Development and Operations.
"His experience across these various disciplines make him the ideal person to lead CBH as we continue to invest in our network, focus on service to our growers and customers, improve our systems and develop our people.
"Since joining CBH in 2014, Ben has been instrumental in bringing a strong commercial focus to the business, establishing a Planning function to ensure network investment is prioritised based on the growing size of the crop and growers needs, and leading the Operations division through a period of significant network investment and planning for this year's record crop.
"In selecting a new CEO, the board's priority was to identify someone who will remain steadfastly focused on the core of CBH - an efficient and cost-effective supply chain, finding the highest value markets for your grain and leveraging the co-operative model to continue to return value to WA growers."
Mr Macnamara said he was honoured to have the opportunity to lead CBH and serve the grain growers of Western Australia.
"Growing up in a farming family in the Wheatbelt of WA, I recognise the significant role our co-operative plays in the livelihoods of thousands of grain growers across the State, and I am proud to be a part of that," Mr Macnamara said.
"I appreciate the thorough process the board has undertaken and humbled that they have selected me given the quality of candidates.
"My focus moving forward will be on our people and relationships with our growers, customers and partners, network investment and keeping pace with growers and customer needs and enhancements to our core systems.
"We have great people at CBH, and I look forward to working with the team and continuing to improve how we create and return value for to the grain growers of WA."
Prior to joining CBH, Mr Macnamara held roles within an investment advisory firm and an international professional services firm.
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