Tom Taylor has been appointed as chief executive of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and will start with the levy board early in the new financial year.
Taylor is currently the chief executive at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. He is a qualified accountant and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management and has a wealth of senior management and corporate governance experience, across both public and private sectors.
Kevin Roberts, who has been chief executive since AHDB became operational in April 2008, leaves to become director general of the National Farmers’ Union in April 2010.
Richard Lowe, a senior director at AHDB, has agreed to extend his notice period and be interim chief executive during the period until Taylor takes up office, before leaving as planned.
AHDB chairman John Bridge said: “The board and I are delighted we have someone of Tom’s calibre joining us. We’re coming out of a period of massive change as we build a new, more efficient structure to address our levy-payers needs - his leadership skills and management experience will be critical in successfully completing this process.
“Our industry faces the enormous challenges of responding to climate change and greenhouse gas targets and also playing its part in feeding a growing world population while using less inputs and a finite land area. An efficient and effective AHDB has a critical role to play in helping the industry to meet those challenges and we believe Tom is the man to help us deliver this.”
Taylor said: “I’m really looking forward to joining the AHDB. It has a great reputation as a professional organisation with talented people and I want to build on that by providing strategic leadership and vision to take it forward. And, as John says, this is a very important time in history for UK food and agriculture - I love challenges and I believe the team at AHDB can make a significant contribution to the industry’s future.”
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